The US markets rally for the 6th straight week as fears about a devastating first-quarter earnings period diminish slightly and investors find increasing hope that the US economy may be stabilizing.  The Russell 2000 led the week's rally, up about 2.4%, with the Dow lagging, up about 0.6% for the week.

• The Dow & S&P have had their best 6-week % gain since July, 1938, and the NASDAQ has had it best 6-week gain since March, 2000
• The last time the Dow, S&P and NASDAQ all experienced 6 simultaneous straight weeks of gains was January, 2004
• The Dow & S&P last experienced 6 straight weeks of gains May, 2007, the NASDAQ had 6 straight weeks of gains December, 2005
• Since March 9th lows, the Dow is up 24.20%, the NASDAQ is up 32% and the S&P is up 28.54%
• Since CNBC Began on April 17, 1989, the Dow is up almost 248%, the NASDAQ is up  300% and the S&P is up 188%

Index Impact:

-American Express (AXP) had the most positive impact on the Dow for the second week running, up almost 16% for the week
  **YTD, IBM (IBM) continues to be the top performer by % gain, up over 20% YTD
  **7 Dow components are now positive YTD including 2 Financials: IBM, AXP, HD, DD, INTC, JPM, HPQ
-Chevron (CVX) had the most negative impact on the Dow, down almost 5% for the week
  **YTD, Citigroup (C) continues to be the worst Dow performer by % loss, down over 46% YTD
-General Electric (GE) had the most positive impact on the S&P, up over 9% for the week
  **YTD, the top S&P performer by % gain continues to be Sprint Nextel (S) up almost 125% YTD
-Exxon (XOM) had the most negative impact on the S&P, down over 4% for the week
  **YTD, the bottom S&P performer by % loss is Time Warner Cable (TWC) down over 55% YTD
-Google (GOOG) had the most positive impact on the NASDAQ 100, up over 5% for the week.
  **YTD, the top NASDAQ 100 performer by % gain is Liberty Media (LINTA), up almost 78% YTD
-Microsoft (MSFT) had the most negative impact on the NASDAQ 100 down over 2% for the week.
  **YTD, the worst NASDAQ 100 performer by % loss is Celgene (CELG) down almost 31% YTD


Sector Impact:

Seven out of ten S&P sectors were positive for the week led by Financials, up over 4%. Telecom was the most negative sector, down over 1% for the week.

• Financials were helped by E*Trade (ETFC) up over 91% for the week
• Telecom was hurt by Qwest (Q) down almost 8% for the week
• YTD 7 out of 10 sectors are negative led by Financials, down almost 12% YTD
• Information Technology is the most positive sector up over 13% YTD