BRIEFING.COM] A renewed sense of optimism helped stocks trade with impressive gains for the entire session, but a weak closing took the exclamation point off of what was the stock market's third straight gain.
The major indices spent the entire session in the green, bolstered by broad-based buying. All 10 major sectors in the S&P 500 closed higher as a result.
Industrial stocks (+5.5%) and consumer discretionary stocks (+5.2%) registered the best gains. Their advance came amid improved investor confidence, which prompted many participants to look for opportunities beyond the financial sector (+2.9%).
Financials have provided leadership in recent weeks, but actually lagged for much of the session. Financials were able to close in-line with the broader market, though, following a muted response to news that the FASB has decided to ease mark-to-market accounting rules for banks. The decision was widely expected.
Health care was a relative laggard for the second straight session, advancing just 0.1%. The sector was held back by continued weakness in pharmaceutical stocks (-0.9%).
Broad-based buying has taken the S&P 500 up almost 6% during the course of the past three sessions, while the Dow is up just over 6% during that time. The Nasdaq is up 6.7% over the past three sessions, and is now sporting a 1.6% year-to-date gain. The S&P 500 and Dow are still down 7.6% and 9.1% for the year, respectively.
The upbeat tone was undeterred by a worse-than-expected weekly jobless claims report, largely because the market knows that labor conditions remain gloomy. Initial jobless claims jumped 12,000 to 669,000 for the week ending March 28. They were expected to come in at 650,000. Continuing claims exceeded expectations as well. They totaled 5.73 million, while economists expected 5.59 million claims. The reaction to tomorrow's nonfarm payrolls report could prove to be an affirmation of investors' growing willingness to look past data that isn't truly horrendous.
February factory orders climbed a more-than-expected 1.8%, providing another headline to feed optimism. The consensus had called for an increase of 1.5%. Orders for the prior month were revised lower to reflect a 3.5% decline.
Optimism was shared by overseas markets. Britain's FTSE advanced 4.3%, Germany's DAX gained 6.1%, and France's CAC climbed 5.4%. Their gains followed news that the ECB cut its target interest rate 25 basis points to 1.25%, while ECB President Trichet indicated more cuts could follow.
Coordinated actions from the G-20 meeting in London also made headlines. The G-20 agreed to double financing for the IMF to nearly $500 billion.
With investors feeling emboldened, many moved against gold. Gold futures contracts finished pit trading at $908.90 per ounce, down 2.0%.
Friday's focus turns to the government's nonfarm payrolls report for March and the March ISM Nonmanufacturing Index. Fed Chairman Bernanke will also be delivering an address at a credit market symposium.
..Nasdaq 100 +3.3%. ..S&P Midcap 400 +4.3%. ..Russell 2000 +4.9%.
