Recession May End Mid-Year, Markets Soar

Comments by Minneapolis Fed President Gary Stern that the recession may end mid-year boosted the markets to a higher close with the Dow soaring 175 points to 7925.  Nasdaq jumped 58 points to 1587.

On the upside

The American Trucking Association reported a 1.7% increase in freight shipments last month to lift shares of YRC Worldwide (Nasdaq: YRCW) higher.

Shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) rose after Goldman Sachs analyst Simona Jankowski highlighted the company's improving margins and valuation.

The Chinese government expressed support for solar energy lifting shares of Solarfun Power Holdings (NYSE: SOLF), LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) and ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) higher.

One analyst raised his price target for Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) while another upgraded the company as demand for graphic chips begin to rise.

On the downside

As part of his investigation into American International Group's (NYSE: AIG) bonuses, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo will subpoena the insurance giant for information related to its complex credit default swaps which the company claimed required certain key employees to unwind.

KeyBanc Capital Markets downgraded Carlisle Companies Inc. (NYSE: CSL).

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 7 to 2 on the NYSE and by 4 to 1 on Nasdaq.  The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks leaped 19 points to 445.