(Lee Siler) - Stocks took a big hit yesterday on a stronger dollar and Citigroup news. The demand for the Citigroup secondary offering was much less than the company thought. Citi was trying to get around $3.35 a share for the $20+ billion offering. The company ended up pricing the offering at $3.15. At this price the Treasury department decided not to sell our tax payers shares at this time. The Treasury said they would hold off for 90 days and after that would sell within the next 12 months.

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(Lee Siler) - For the week, stocks moved slightly higher despite the dollar showing some strength. Last week, we saw a paradigm change as the weak dollar trade subsided and was now trading in concert with stocks. It had been a long time since we've seen stocks and the dollar trade in the same direction. Well Friday's surprising employment data got the dollar moving. The fact that unemployment dropped to 10% from 10.2% was a huge surprise. Wall Street applauded the news. However, I'm not sure that this is the start of a trend. I still think unemployment is a major issue and will likely jump back up to over 10.2% over the next few months.

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(Lee Siler) - Stocks continued their slide yesterday, as the dollar is starting to show some strength. This recent move in the dollar is likely an oversold bounce. Most experts do not see a significant dollar rally, especially since the Fed has stated that they will not raise rates for an extended period. Raising rates is the best tool the Fed has to prop up the dollar...

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(Lee Siler) - The market ended the day mixed on moderate trade. Considering the major averages rallied two of the three previous days, I would chalk yesterday up as a victory. It's been a while since the Dow Jones gained more than 200 points two of three days...

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(Lee Siler) - Stocks rallied big yesterday, as Wall Street is still buzzing about Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments. The Fed chief announced that this recession is "likely" over. Recent economic data has suggested that the economy is stabilizing, but the question is how much growth we can expect in the short-term? The good news is at least the economy should not contract any further.

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(Lee Siler) - Stock futures are mixed this morning, as Wall Street tries to digest a five day winning streak. On the 8th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, the market will likely finish the week on a positive note. Consumer sentiment data will be released later this morning from the University of Michigan. This news has typically been a market mover and the market is expecting an improvement over last month. This number is a preliminary and will likely be adjusted up or down over the next few weeks.

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(Lee Siler) - A better than expected jobs report, has stock futures trading slightly higher on the open. Also helping matters, the continued weak dollar is pushing energy and mining stocks to the upside, which are boosting the major averages.

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(Lee Siler) - Stocks look to build on last week's gains, on comments from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. Bernanke said on Friday that the economy is on the verge of recovery. Obviously, this has been a long painful process that started with the decline in housing. The good news is that also on Friday, a report showed that existing home sales came in better than expected. According to some economists, this is an element necessary to make a full rebound.

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(Trenton Adams) - We ended the First Quarter 2009 on a note of cautious optimism, sparked by a strong March rally that lifted the S&P 500 Index to an 8.76% return for the month. That optimism seemed justified as the rally pushed forward during the Second Quarter 2009, with the S&P 500 Index returning 15.9% for the period and posting a 36 % gain since establishing a twelve year low on March 9.

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(Lee Siler) - The market had one of the best days of the year on brisk trading. Earnings news is adding fuel to this market and this morning JP Morgan Chase is the accelerant. The company announced that strength in their core consumer business and investment banking offset a jump in credit losses. Earnings were 28 cents a share versus estimates of only 4 cents. However, revenues fell slightly short of expectations. JPM is traded up almost 4.5% yesterday.

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