Bullish Blog

AP - New hope for the economy just gave the stock market its best July in 20 years.

Reuters - Wall Street may have momentum on its side next week as the S&P 500 tries to puncture the 1,000 level, but the rally’s staying power will depend on whether U.S. data and corporate earnings provide more signs of economic stabilization.

AP - Even when their profits dried up and they turned to taxpayers to stay afloat, the nation’s biggest banks kept paying huge bonuses. But much of the money went not to top executives, but to star traders and salesmen, even as the economy battled through the worst recession in a generation.

AP - How far the Dow Jones industrial average has fallen or advanced each trading day since Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 15. Since Lehman’s fall, which touched off a paralysis of the credit markets and deepened the recession, the stock market has gone through an extended period of volatility before kicking into a big rally starting this spring. The numbers are the closing levels for the Dow:

AP - The stock market’s best July in 20 years is giving investors reason for hope about the economy. Investors are placing big bets that the ability of companies to squeeze out surprise profits means the longest recession since World War II is finally easing its grip. But even as earnings and some economic reports suggest the economy is strengthening, the stock rally means investors will pay a bigger price if they are wrong.

The purveyor of gourmet foods has retained customers without slashing prices through an effective promotional campaign stressing the ’values’ to be found in its aisles. 

AFP - Shares in London closed lower on Friday as investors digested a report on US economic growth that showed a smaller-than-expected contraction but continued weakness in consumer spending.

Reuters - Toronto’s main stock index extended its rally on Friday on broad strength across most sectors, underpinned by economic recovery hopes.

AFP - Europe’s main equity markets turned flat on Friday after poor economic data and downbeat company earnings in the recession-struck eurozone.

AP - New hope for the economy just gave the stock market its best July in 20 years.