Positive economic news and the results of the financial stress test results propelled the Dow Jones Industrial up 2.4% to 13,232.62, the S&P 500 jumped 2.4% to 1,404.17, and the NASDAQ rose 2.2% to 3,055.26.

European concerns, especially in Greece and Spain weighed on the markets on Monday. The debt swap deal that was announced last week averted a default on March 20 and the IMF is set to sign off on the second bailout on March 15.  In Spain, with unemployment looming near 23%, the budget proposal from the new government will not likely contain as much fiscal discipline as preached prior to the elections. The Dow Jones Industrial advanced 0.3% to 12,959.71 …

Apple dangled yet another New iPad with even more speed than we could fathom, Greece orchestrated its bond swap although much more work and collaboration will be needed in the days to come and the US created more jobs than expected.  For the week, the major averages were mixed with the Dow Jones Index off 0.4% to 12,922.02, while the NASDAQ rose 0.4% to 2,988.34 and the S&P 500 inched up slightly 0.1% to 1,370.87 marking the fourth consecutive weekly advances for both indices. 

Holding the markets back on Monday was reduced growth from China, higher oil prices and mixed economic data. The Dow Jones Index fell 0.1% to 12,962.81, the NASDAQ declined 0.9% to 2,950.48 and the S&P 500 decreased 0.4% to 1,364.33.  …

The SNL Bank Index substantially outperformed the broader markets for the week driven in large part by some encouraging M&A in the bank sector and positive comments by CEO Jamie Dimon at the JPMorgan investor day.  The broader markets were mixed as there were both positive and negative reports regarding the US economy and news from Europe.

The broader markets were mixed on news from Europe and the housing sector. The G-20 countries were waiting till next month to make decisions on aid for Europe, pending more information regarding the efforts to fight the region’s debt.   Solid news for the housing sector came with when the National Association of Realtors’ pending home sales index rose 2.0% over the last month to 97.0 in January 2012 and is up 8.0% from a year ago. The Dow Jones eased …

The global markets were largely to the upside this past week. The S&P 500 inched upward by 0.1%, the NASDAQ jumped 1.1%, the FTSE rose 0.1%, the DAX increased 1.7% and the Hang Seng soared 2.0%.  The Dow and the CAC 40 finished lower by 0.5% and 0.1%, respectively.  GDP came in slightly below the robust expectations of 3.0% but even more disappointing was that this growth was largely the result of inventory rebuilding and the scale witnessed in 4Q11 is unlikely to persist.  The Obama administration extended its Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) by one year until year-end 2013.  The goal was to modify 3-4 million loans and this program has fallen short of those projections.  Newt won the South Carolina primary last week and Mitt produced his voluminous returns–Up this week is the Florida primary!

RIM’s …