Bullish Blog

AP - Better-than-expected U.S. jobs data boosted world stocks and the dollar on Friday as hopes that the world’s largest economy is on the mend offset the uncertainty over the conflict in Libya.

Reuters - The wealthy Texas brothers Samuel and Charles Wyly on Thursday lost their bid to dismiss a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit accusing them of orchestrating a $550 million securities fraud and committing insider trading.

AP - Stocks were mixed Thursday as the price of oil jumped to a 30-month high. Slightly disappointing reports on unemployment claims and factory orders also weighed on the market. The Dow Jones industrial average still closed its best start to the year since 1999, rising 6.4 percent in the first three months.

Reuters - Raj Rajaratnam did not pick stocks alone. He had a team of researchers at his Galleon Group hedge fund to grind through the rumor mill and anticipate a good bet.

AP - The Dow Jones industrial average closed its best start to the year since 1999 Thursday, rising 6.4 percent in the first three months. The index of 30 large companies gained 742 points in that stretch. Measured against other first quarters, that’s the largest point gain since 1998 and the second best on record.

AFP - European stocks dipped Thursday but were still set for a first quarter rise, after three months in which the global recovery outshone the eurozone debt crisis and Middle East unrest.

Reuters - U.S. stocks ended a solid quarter with the barest of moves on Thursday, as investors looked ahead to Friday’s U.S. jobs report to provide a catalyst to push indexes to new highs for the year.

Reuters - The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether Wall Street firms sold a complex type of bond without clarifying the risks attached to it, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

AP - World stocks, including equities in earthquake-battered Japan, showed resilience Thursday as investor sentiment perked up on a report that U.S. employers were hiring more workers.

AP - Telecommunications companies led a broad stock rally Wednesday following a report that private companies are continuing to add workers. All ten sectors of the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose. AT&T Inc. led the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones industrial average with a 2.2 percent gain.