Bullish Blog

AP - Weaker than expected U.S. retail sales figures dented market confidence Tuesday after another mass downgrade of the creditworthiness of European countries had little impact.

Reuters - A U.S. market regulator is for now dropping insider trading cases against three Swiss asset managers, despite accusations that two of the defendants improperly thwarted its investigation, including by throwing out a BlackBerry.

AP - STAYING IN PLACE: Deposits into U.S. stock mutual funds roughly equaled withdrawals in January, industry consultant Strategic Insight said on Monday. It snapped an eight-month streak of investors pulling their money out each month. The string ended as the stock market had its best January in 15 years.

AP - A January market rally wasn’t enough to get investors back into stock mutual funds in a big way. But they did stop pulling out more cash than they were putting in, ending an eight-month string of net withdrawals.

AP - GOOD NEWS FROM GREECE: Another step toward another bailout fueled stock gains in the U.S., with all major indexes rising.

AP - Stocks rose on Monday as investors cheered a vote in Greece that will help clear the way for another bailout. The Dow Jones industrial average rose to within 16 points of its close highest close since before the 2008 financial crisis.

Reuters - The White House on Monday proposed big budget boosts for U.S. financial market regulators, which are months behind in finalizing Dodd-Frank reforms and are under pressure to more vigorously police markets in the wake of the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

AP - ROARING RALLY: In anticipation of the spring home-selling season, the Standard & Poor’s homebuilders index has surged 60 percent in four months.

AP - The housing market recovery hasn’t taken off yet, but a rally in its stocks sure has. The Standard & Poor’s homebuilders index is up 60 percent since October.

Reuters - Two former Bear Stearns fund managers, who were acquitted of criminal charges over the demise of their mortgage-laden hedge funds, agreed on Monday to pay more than $1 million to resolve a civil lawsuit brought by market regulators.