Stocks advanced Monday, rebounding off of their worst week since last March, as worries about Bernanke's confirmation subsided and investors scooped up bargains. Techs advanced ahead of earnings from Apple and Texas Instruments after the bell.
Last week, the Dow chalked up its worst week since March 2009amid worries about earnings, Washington's tough talk on banks and China.
A couple of items worrying investors eased up this morning: Doubts about the confirmation of Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke subsided and demand was strong for Greece's first bond offering of the year.
Stocks briefly pared their gains after a report showed existing-home sales fell 16.7 percentin December, much worse than the 10-percent drop expected, but then shrugged it off.
Financial stocks charged out of the gate as investors scooped up bargains in the beaten-down sector.
Bank of America led the Dow, followed by Alcoa and DuPont .
Wal-Mart skidded after the discount retailer said it's cutting 10 percent of jobs at its Sam's Club stores.
Techs were among the morning's best performers ahead of results from Apple and Texas Instruments after the bell.
Investors are also looking to Apple's announcement on Wednesday, which is expected to be about a new tablet computer that could give Amazon's Kindle a run for its money. Amazon shares were down more than 2 percent this morning.
This mornings earnings were a mixed bag.
Halliburton reported its profit dropped 7 percent amid weaker drilling activity and lower prices for its oil-field services, but expects an improvement in its North American business.
Diversified manufacturer Eaton reported profit higher than expected.
Cadbury slipped following news that the UK chocolatier won't be getting a bid from Italy's Ferrero, clearing the path for a takeover by Kraft Foods.
An encouraging sign on the jobs front: Companies are aslowly increasing hiring plans for the first half of 2010, according to a new survey from the National Association For Business Economics.
The Lundberg survey says the average price of a gallon of gasoline slipped 1.42 cents over the past two weeks to $2.72 per gallon.
