Banking Sector Upgrades Lift Markets To Higher Close

Upgrades of the banking sector boosted the markets to a sharply higher close with the Dow leaping 235 points to 8504.  Nasdaq jumped 52 points to 1732.

On the upside

Goldman Sachs analyst Matthew Fassler lifted his earnings estimate for Sonic Automotive(NYSE: SAH).

Saks Fifth Avenue (NYSE: SKS) will open a store in the Plaza Internacional in Puerto Rico.

An election victory for India's Congress Party lifted shares of Sterlite Industries India (NYSE: SLT).

Goldman Sachs analyst Richard Ramsden upgraded Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) to a Buy rating.

BMO Capital Markets analyst Peter Winter upgraded U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) to Outperform.

Shares of OceanFreight (Nasdaq: OCNF) rose ahead of its earnings release after market close tomorrow.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of 6 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 4 to 1 on Nasdaq.  The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks jumped 18 points to 494.