Bullish Blog

Reuters - Dow Jones & Co Inc has been talking to potential buyers about the sale of its stock market index business, including the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI), the company’s Wall Street Journal reported on its website.

Reuters - A friend of Bernard Madoff accused of helping fund billions of dollars to the imprisoned swindler asked judges to dismiss charges against him by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the trustee of Madoff’s investment advisory firm.

Reuters - Is it game over for the recession? Or will consumers stay in hibernation?

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 Dow Jones Industrial Average could get a new name.

AP - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday what investors wanted to hear, that the economy is indeed on the verge of recovery, and they responded with a rally that sent the major indexes to new highs for the year. The stock market’s gains were broad, reaching across all industries, but the biggest jumps came from energy, industrial and material stocks as oil and commodities prices soared. Bank stocks also rose sharply.

AP - The Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped its stock option backdating case against Ann Mather, a Google Inc. board member since November 2005 and former chief financial officer of Pixar Animation Studios.

AFP - A sizzling report on US existing-home sales and upbeat comments from Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke on Friday stoked hopes of recovery from the brutal recession and drove up world stock markets.

Reuters - U.S. securities regulators have dropped a stock options backdating investigation against former Pixar Animation Studios Chief Financial Officer Ann Mather, according to a letter obtained by Reuters on Friday.

AP - A look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Friday: