Market Recap - March 12, 2009

The stock market rally continued today, as the major indexes were up for the third straight day.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 239.66 points (2.46%) and the S&P 500 was higher 29.38 points (4.07%).  Over the past three days, the Dow has jumped 622 points (9.5%)!

One of the major reasons for the continued uptrend came from the announcement that accounting rules for companies, especially banks, may be eased.  This is great news for banks, as their bottom lines will greatly improve with the ability to avoid mark-to-market accounting practices. 

Investors were also very happy with General Electric (GE), as Standard & Poor’s cut the company’s credit rating less than expected.  GE was up 12.7% on the day.  General Motors (GM) was also up big today (17.2%) on news that the company will not need the $2 billion of government aid that it had originally asked for. 

This was a great week for the market and, for the first time in a long time, investors were treated with more good news than bad news about the economy and about specific companies.  With so many people on the sidelines with cash waiting for the right time to get into the market, there is no reason to think that the rally won’t continue as long as the good news keeps flowing. 

Also, Bernie Madoff pleaded guilty today and was sent to jail without bail.  He could get up to 150 years in prison. 

Until next week,

 

Niki Pezeshki

College Trillionaire