Insurance Stocks Power Market Rally (BAC, MSFT)

Wall Street begins the week with a strong rally, using momentum from last week to send stocks surging. The rally was led by insurance companies after Hurricane Irene caused far less damage as anticipated. The ballpark estimates price the damage at $2-3 billion, much less than the $6 billion dolled out after Hurricane Isabel in 2003. In corporate news, Bank of America (BAC) has sold half of its stake in Chinese construction. Microsoft (MSFT) has taken aim at Salesforce.com (CRM) by offering additional financial incentives for existing Salesforce clients to jump ship.

Word on the Street

• Markets continue last week’s rally by adding overall gains Monday.
• Greek stocks have a better rally, adding highest gains in 20 years.
• Bank of America (BAC) sells half of its China construction stake, as expected.
• US consumer spending for July rose at it’s highest pace in 5 months.
• Microsoft (MSFT) takes aim at Salesforce’s (CRM) clients with new financial incentives.
• Zynga IPO expected this fall, but no sooner than October.
• Strong second quarter earnings for Tiffany & Co (TIF) reveal a diamond in the rough.

Interesting Tidbits

• Is it wise to ask customers what they want, or show them what they want? Question explored using Henry Ford as an example.
• Business emergencies: how to deal with them.

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