Market Up, May Prove Strong Month for the Dow (NTGR, MCD)

Though the economic news has been less than promising, stocks continue to rise on the back of strong earnings reports. Netgear (NTGR), for instance, saw a nearly 25% jump in their stocks after they came out with their better than expecting earnings. Today Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke stated that a lackluster jobs market and underperforming housing market continued to hold back economic recovery in the US. On the jobs front, McDonald’s (MCD) announced that they had hired 24 percent more employees than anticipated, hiring as many as 62,000 in one day.

Word on the Street

• April may be on track to be the best month of 2011 so far for the Dow.
• Netgear’s (NTGR) strong earnings bolstered their stocks by almost 25%.
• Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that weak labor and housing markets were holding back the economic recovery.
• McDonald’s (MCD) hired 24 percent more workers this quarter than it expected.
• Amazon (AMZN) has come out with an explanation for the recent failure of their cloud hosting service.
• MarketWatch has a roundup of economic news from this week in chart form.
• Proposed cuts to nursing home reinbursement saw nursing home stocks fall.

Interesting Tidbits

• If you’re struggling to get tasks accomplished these productivity tips may be helpful.
• Instead of working hard against your competition, make your competition work for you.

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