AFP - Stock markets in Europe mostly gained on Monday following news of a possible alliance of auto makers Fiat and Opel and despite new data showing Europe's recession will be far deeper and longer than expected.
BusinessWeek Online - Gail Dudack has spent decades deciphering patterns in market moves. At Dudack Research Group, a division of Midwood Securities, she mines market data to find clues to future gains. She figures it could take until 2016 for the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, now at 858, to surpass -- and remain above -- 1550, putting it safely ahead of its 2000 peak. Amy Feldman asked Dudack about her outlook. -- read full article
Reuters - U.S. bank shares rose on Monday after analysts said government stress tests of financial institutions would show most would need less new capital than previously feared.
Reuters - U.S. regulators who have accused Allen Stanford of an $8 billion fraud filed court documents on Monday opposing the Texas financier's efforts to have $10 million released to pay his legal fees. -- read full article
AP - Investors are rushing into stocks Monday as surprise increases in pending home sales and construction spending offered the latest signs that the economy is stabilizing.
Reuters - Stocks extended gains on Monday, driving the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX) back above the psychologically important 900 level for the first time since early January.
AFP - World stock markets advanced on Monday after encouraging signals from the Chinese economy as well as news of Fiat's plans to create a new global auto industry giant despite the economic crisis.
AP - A week laden with key economic reports and results of stress tests on banks will determine whether Wall Street is ready to rally further or take a sharp U-turn. -- read full article
AP - The Securities and Exchange Commission is considering changing a formula that critics say often allows public companies to low-ball in regulatory filings just how much top executives are paid. -- read full article
Reuters - Oil prices rose more than $2 a barrel on Friday to hit a four-week high on support from improved U.S. consumer confidence and further evidence of record levels of compliance by OPEC with its agreed output cuts.
Reuters - U.S. stocks rose on Friday as surging oil prices pushed energy shares higher and fresh economic data suggested key parts of the economy could be stabilizing.
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 that subsided during December but that has returned in 2009. The numbers are the closing levels for the Dow: -- read full article
