Possible Improvement Of Credit Markets Lift Stocks

The markets closed higher despite a record drop in wholesale prices as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before the House Financial Services committee that the credit markets may be improving.  The Dow surged 151 points to 8425 while Nasdaq added a point to 1483.

On the upside

Keefe Bruyette upgraded Chimera Investment (NYSE: CIM).

Conseco (NYSE: CNO) successfully completed the transfer of Senior Health Insurance Company of Pennsylvania to an independent trust.

On the downside

Shares of Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) tumbled as the growth of online sales drastically slowed with the slumping economy.

Stanford Research downgraded Digital River (Nasdaq: DRIV).

DivX (Nasdaq: DIVX) lowered its outlook after Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) pulled out of a two year advertising deal.  The video technology company sued Yahoo for breach of contract.

Although ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) reported higher third quarter results that topped estimates, the solar wafer maker forecast full year revenue below expectations.

In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 5 to 3 on the NYSE and by nearly 3 to 2 on Nasdaq.  The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks lost 4 points to 448.