Breaking Wall Street Market News & Reports

Stocks hovered just north of breakeven for most of the session, with financial issues pacing the advancing equities. Citigroup (C) and American International Group (AIG) led the charge higher for the second day in a row, while regional banking concerns like Zions Bancorp (ZION) rallied on rumors that Barclays PLC (BCS) may be hunting for U.S. assets. Elsewhere, Google Inc. (GOOG) paved the path into the black for the tech sector, after the search-engine sultan launched Google Apps Marketplace, a new online store for integrated applications. By the close, the major market indexes finished a relatively mellow session in the black, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) eking out a 3-point gain.

Citi also priced its preferred offering — 80 million shares at $25 each and a yield of 8.5 percent — which was met with strong demand. And there was buzz that the company’s real estate unit might be purchased by Apollo Management. Citi is up over 15 percent in the past five days as investors have cheered the company’s progress.

Wednesday also marked the 10-year anniversary of the peak of the dotcom bubble — an episode from which the Nasdaq still hasn’t recovered. The index is down 55% from its March 2000 high of 5,000.

In economic news: Wholesales inventories unexpectedly fell 0.2 percent in January as sales rose to their highest level since October 2008; economists had expected to see a 0.2-percent increase in inventories. Earlier, a report showed mortgage applications rose last week — even as mortgage rates rose.

Oil back at $82 as OPEC announces it will increase production as it sees strength in demand for the black gold

Senate approves $149 billion in extended unemployment benefits.

In the 2nd round of layoffs away from the corporate world, cities and state municipalities began presenting their fiscal budgets. Kansas last week began with the announcement of cutting $50 million, closing 29 of 61 schools and cutting hundreds of school teaching jobs. As last years stimulus funds fade municipalities are beginning to come to realistic terms and are now forced to reign in their debt. The temporarily relief had delayed the inevitable and now our teacher’s jobs are unsafe. It’s truly ashame as this disgusts me. This country is beginning to see the damage they had caused. As if the national unemployment rate isn’t high enough. See this 2 minute video here 

Winners Today

Our Fund/Picks Update from my initial alert (not inclusive of options as they’re all up on average +200%)

VLO – now up 12%

AAPL – now up 7.6%

GS - now up 8.2%

EBAY – now up 17%