Markets on the Rise

Stocks managed to roar back today with impressive results. The positive performance was led by a promising jobs report and Alcoa's better-than-expected quarterly report. The U.S. Department of Labor reported that the number of U.S. workers filing new jobless claims slid to a nine-month low last week. The S&P 500 jumped up 8 points while the Nasdaq rose 13 points. However, the Dow Jones was the biggest gainer with a 61 point climb. Despite the tough economic climate, major companies seem to be reporting performance improvements due to massive cost cutting efforts. There was also heavy movement in the housing sector as talks continued about Congress issuing an extension of its $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers. U.S. light crude oil for November delivery rose to $71.69 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold closed at a record $1,056.30 an ounce and reached trading high of $1,062.70.

Word on the Street

A few retail stores surprised investors with impressive upward movement during today's session. Macy's stock rose 5.1 percent while Abercrombie and Fitch jumped up 5.5%. Kohls also chipped in with a solid 2.4 percent increase. It was announced that for the month of September, U.S. retailers reported the first increase in overall sales in more than year. In the tech sector, Adobe Systems made some noise as its shares rose 3.2 percent to $34.33.

Unfortunately, Pepsi was unable to capitalize on the market's positive momentum. The world's second largest bottling company watched its shares dip 1.3 percent to $60.39 after a worse-than-expected quarterly report.

Just because it glitters doesn't mean it's gold -- or does it?

Nearly 520,000 Americans filed new claims for unemployment last week as compared to the Labor Department's projected 540,000. The revised number is a nine month low.

The dollar continued to struggle as it lost ground to its major competitors.

The fast food restaurant Wendy's is also gearing up to launch a $75 million fourth quarter marketing campaign. The hamburger maker is hoping to rejuvenate its brand by emphasizing freshness and quality to consumers. Wendy's has struggled in the past with its marketing promotions. In the past five years, it has cycled through five different campaigns.

The Justice Department is investigating allegations that IBM is boxing out competitors in the mainframe computer market by not allowing its mainframe operating software to run on non-IBM computers.  

Other Juicy Tidbits

Here is the most annoying word in the English language, so do yourself and others a favor by not using it.

Charlie Gasparino just put an end to Sally Krawcheck's hopes of taking over the corner office at BofA with this scathing piece for Forbes.

Timmy should start expanding his circle of friends -- The Treasury Secretary's phone records indicate that he spends a lot of time talking to only the big banks.

Yet another football league is going to try to take a shot at the NFL's dominance -- starting tonight.