Author: Gregory White and Vince Veneziani

Stocks soared today on higher earnings and positive economic data. Here’s the rundown:

Dow: Up 103 points to 11,122.

NASDAQ: Up 38 points to 2504.

S&P 500: Up 13 points to 1210.

Commodities: Oil is up $1.85 to $85.90 a barrel. Natural gas futures are up 0.9% to 4.1910.

Gold is up $1.50 to $1154.90 an ounce. Silver is up $0.16 to $18.41 an ounce.

Now here are the stories you need to know:

• Tim Geithner is calling the recovery real saying that the U.S. is expanding “faster than expected” and that the U.S. is improving at a greater pace than other developed economies.

• The Fed has said that the economy expanded “somewhat” in March with 11 out of 12 U.S. districts showing expansion, according to Bloomberg. Only St. Louis showed declining conditions.

• Ford’s sales are improving at a better rate than anytime since 1977. The American automobile company’s sales rose 2.7 percentage points in the first quarter. The stock is up 4.77%.

• The war over financial reform expanded today as Austan Goolsbee, the President’s economic advisor, went on CNBC to attack big banks for their lobbying push on the Republican Party. President Obama also called for more agressive regulation of derivatives today, and Sen. Dodd is pushing Republicans to stop their lobbying campaign or face being kicked out of reform negotiations.

• Apple is delaying the launch of its iPad outside of the U.S. due to unprecedented demand in the American market. Apple analyst Gene Munster has upped his call on the stock to $299.

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Indices:

• DJIA: up 48 points to 11,068.
• NASDAQ: Up 24 points to 2490.
• S&P 500: Up 7 points to 1204.

Today’s biggest gainers on the S&P 500:

• Teradyne Inc (TER): $12.14 / +6.21%
• SanDisk Corp (SNDK): $38.03 / +5.76%
• Dell Inc (DELL): 16.61 / +5.66%

Today’s biggest losers on the S&P 500:

• Phillip Morris Intl Inc (PM): $51.05 / -2.69%
• Unitedhealth Group Inc (UNH): $31.30 / -2.67%
• Bank of NY Mellon Corp (BK): $31.68 / -2.43%

Commodities:

• Oil: Up 2.2% or $1.88 to $85.93 a barrel.
• Gold: Up 0.5% or $5.50 to $1158.90 an ounce.
• Silver: Up 1.2% or $0.23 to $18.48 an ounce.

Futures:

• Futures are mixed but a lot of sectors are up.
• Energy posting solid gains in crude oil, natural gas, and heating oil.
• Cotton falling along with wheat, pork bellies, rough rice, and live cattle.

 

Here’s what you need to know before you break for lunch today:

• Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has come out bullish on the recovery is his testimony before Congress today, but said that state and municipal debt levels need to be monitored. Chairman Bernanke also noted high unemployment and a weak housing market as other potential drags on the recovery.

• JP Morgan’s earnings have come in above estimates, with the firm making $3.3 billion, even though its put away $7 billion to cover bad consumer loans. In other banking news, Lehman Brothers is asking for $110 million back in a tax overpay it made in 1999 and 2000.

• Oil is trading higher after the release of a U.S. Energy Information Agency report showing that stockpiles of crude oil are down by 2.2 billion barrels. OPEC sees oil falling to between $70 and $80 a barrel in the next few months.

• Iranian President Ahmadinejad has spoken out against the U.S. government’s push for sanctions against the country saying that America should accept it as a power, according to Platts Oil.

• Simon Property really wants to buy General Growth Properties and John Paulson might jump into the mix.

And here is some of today’s key economic data:

• (US) MBA Mortgage Applications w/e Apr 9th: -9.6% v -11.0% prior
• (BR) Brazil Feb Retail Sales M/M: 1.6% v 0.6%e; Y/Y: 12.3% v 10.4%e
• (RU) Russia Mar Producer Prices M/M: 1.8% v 0.9%e; Y/Y: 19.2% v 12.4%e
• (US) Mar Consumer Price Index M/M: 0.1% v 0.1%e; CPI Ex Food&Energy M/M: 0.0% v 0.1%e; CPI NSA: 217.63 v 217.714
• (US) Mar Advanced Retail Sales: 1.6% v 1.2%e; Ex Autos: 0.6% v 0.5%
• (US) Feb Business Inventories: 0.5% v 0.4%e
• (US) DOE weekly crude inventories: Crude: -2.2M v +1.4Me; Gasoline: -1.04M v -1Me; Distillate: +1.1M v +1Me; Utilization:85.6% v 84.6%e

All prices taken at 12:00 EST.

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DOW 11,000!

First, your scorecard:

• DJIA: Up 8 points to 11,006.
• S&P 500: Up 2 points to 1196.
• NASDAQ: Up 3 points to 2457.

Today’s big gainers:

S&P 500:

• American International Group (AIG): $43.89 / +9.83%
• NYSE Euronext Inc (NYX): $32.26 / +5.74%
• Leucadia National Corp (LUK): $26.99 / +5.51%

DJIA:

• Caterpillar Inc (CAT): $66.82 / +2.37%
• Alcoa Inc (AA): $14.62 / +1.60%
• General Electric Co (GE): $18.80 / +1.51%

Commodities round up:

• Oil: $84.24 / -$0.68 or 0.80%
• Gold: $1155.20 / -$6.70 or 0.58%
• Silver: $18.16 / -$0.19 or 1.04%

Now here’s what you need to know before you leave work today:

• Pimco’s Mohamed El-Erian has questioned the Greek bailout package suggesting that it only deals with short term funding concerns, rather than its underlying government insolvency.

• Germany is bearing the burden of the Greek bailout handling 8.4 billion euros ($11.4 billion) of the 30 billion euro ($40.8 billion) Greek assistance package. Pressure is rising on Chancellor Merkel, who had previously said no to any significant part in helping Greece.

• Palm’s price has gone up 20% today on rumors the company is about to be bought. The company has hired Goldman Sachs and Quattrone’s Qatalyst Group to sell the company.

• President Obama plans on using this week’s nuclear summit in Washington to push Chinese President Hu Jintao on the issue of Iranian sanctions. There were some concerns that China would not attend the conference after offensive U.S. moves in previous months, including the Dalai Lama’s meeting with President Obama.

• While the Dow may have held 11,000 today, Hussman is saying the market is in for a painful correction. Investors are relying on the economy to continue to be strong, so they will get hit even harder.

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First, your scorecard:

• DOW: Up 70 points to 10,997, breached 11,000 for a short time.

• S&P: Up 8 points to 1194.

• NASDAQ: Up 17 points to 2454.

Today’s big gainers:

• S&P 500:
  –Jacobs Engineering Group Inc (JEC): $47.61 / +7.52%
  –Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF): $49.98 / +6.57%
  –Lexmark Intl. Inc. (LXK): $37.32 / +4.48%
• DJIA:
  -Chevron Corp (CVX): $79.50 / +2.37%
  -AT&T Inc (T): $26.44 / +1.61%
  -The Coca-Cola Company (KO): $54.59 / 1.54%
  

Now here’s what you need to know before you leave work today:

• The Greek crisis is escalating even further going into the weekend. Rumors suggest that the proposed European bailout of Greece is based upon 6% interest rates on three year loans. The EU also plans on charging Greece an additional 100 bps for any year greater than 3 the country takes loans for.

• Howard Davidowitz has called the positivity over recent retail sales numbers the result of a “sucker’s rally.” “We’re in a bad place, heading for a worse place,” he added.

• U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stevens has announced his retirement for this summer. Its likely to make President Obama’s attempts to pass both financial reform and energy reform difficult, as the polarizing selection of a another Supreme Court Justice occurs just months before the November mid-term elections.

• China car sales are showing just why oil has been on such a tear. China’s year-over-year growth in auto sales is now at 60%.

• Chinese trade data is released tonight, and it may be an early weekend signal of where the yuan revaluation story will go by Monday. Trade imbalances with the United States will be a particularly important statistic to watch for.

• Bonus: Workers at Carlsberg, the Danish brewer, are striking because of a reduction of how much free beer they can drink while on the job.

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