Markets Surge As Consumer Confidence Jumps

Even as General Motors moved closer to bankruptcy, the markets surged to close sharply higher with the Dow soaring 196 points to 8473 as consumer confidence jumped. Nasdaq leaped 58 points to 1750.

On the upside

Morgan Stanley analyst Ken Zerbe upgraded Zions Bancorp (Nasdaq: ZION) citing the bank's attractive price.

JPMorgan analyst Mike McCormack upgraded Qwest Communications International (NYSE: Q) due to positive revenue trends.

Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) announced that a more powerful multiprocessor chip will be produced in the second half of the year.

On the downside

Shares of Oncogenex (Nasdaq: OGXI) sank as investors locked in profits.  The stock price surged last week over take-over speculation.

Flagstar Bancorp (NYSE: FBC) will be replaced by Bank of the Ozarks (Nasdaq: OZRK) on the S&P SmallCap 600 after market close today.

Cardica (Nasdaq: CRDC) announced on Friday that it Nasdaq warned the company that it was no longer in compliance with the Minimum Equity requirement for listing on the exchange. 

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by nearly 7 to 2 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks jumped 22 points to 500.