Dow tops 9000

A first in six months. Are these finally those green shoots we’ve been reading about? I’m not holding my breath, but a lot of indicators seem to be at least a little positive. A definite uptick from either not so negative or neutral that had everyone excited earlier this year.

From the link:

In early afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was 2 percent, or 179 points, higher, while the broader Standard and Poor’s 500-stock index rose 22 points, or 2.2 percent. The Nasdaq gained 44 points, or 2.3 percent.

“We’ve had an exceptional rally here,” said Peter Cardillo, the chief market economist at Avalon Partners. “In the remainder of the summer we’ll see the S.&P. challenging the 1,000 mark.”

“The housing market does point to signs of stabilizing and that obviously is key to consumer confidence to begin to rebuild,” Mr. Cardillo said. “If we see daylight in the housing market that will give another indication that the economy crawling out of recession in the fourth quarter is achievable.”

Shares were up across all sectors in the S.&P., led by telecommunications, consumer goods and energy. Ford, which is the only Detroit automaker now publicly traded, was up almost 11 percent.

S&P and Dow dump GM

General Motors is no longer part of the Standard & Poor’s index and the Dow Jones Index.

Here’s more news from S&P on that and additional changes.

The release:

Standard & Poor’s Announces Changes to U.S. Indices

NEW YORK, March 5 /PRNewswire/ — Standard & Poor’s will make the following changes to the S&P 100, S&P 500, S&P MidCap 400 and S&P SmallCap 600 indices:     S&P 500 constituent Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) will replace Tyco International Ltd. (NYSE: TYC) in the S&P 100, S&P MidCap 400 constituent Northeast Utilities (NYSE: NU) will replace Tyco International in the S&P 500, S&P SmallCap 600 constituent Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: WW) will replace Northeast Utilities in the S&P MidCap 400, and ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ESE) will replace Watson Wyatt in the S&P SmallCap 600, all after the close of trading on a date to be announced. Tyco is in the process of redomesticating to Switzerland, which will render it ineligible for continued inclusion in the S&P 100 & 500 indices.   OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: OSIP) will replace Ferro Corp. (NYSE: FOE) in the S&P MidCap 400 after the close of trading on Thursday, March 12. As of today’s close of trading, Ferro had a market capitalization of approximately $40 million ranking it 400th in the index.       eHealth Inc. (Nasdaq: EHTH) will replace Champion Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: CHB), and American Public Education Inc. (Nasdaq: APEI) will replace Georgia Gulf Corp. (NYSE: GGC) in the S&P SmallCap 600, after the close of trading on Thursday, March 12. As of today’s close of trading, Champion Enterprises and Georgia Gulf had market capitalizations of approximately $16 million and $12 million respectively, whereas the minimum market cap needed to be admitted to the index is currently $200 million.       Neutral Tandem Inc. (Nasdaq: TNDM) will replace Interwoven Inc. (Nasdaq: IWOV) in the S&P SmallCap 600 after the close of trading on a date to be announced. Autonomy Corporation plc is acquiring Interwoven in a deal that is still pending final approvals.       Standard & Poor’s will monitor these transactions, and post any relevant updates on its website: www.standardandpoors.com.

The House scuttles bailout plan

And the market takes a big hit.

From the link:

The House on Monday defeated a $700 billion emergency rescue package, ignoring urgent pleas from President Bush and bipartisan congressional leaders to quickly bail out the staggering financial industry.

Stocks plummeted on Wall Street even before the 228-205 vote to reject the bill was announced on the House floor.

When the critical vote was tallied, too few members of the House were willing to support the unpopular measure with elections just five weeks away. Ample no votes came from both the Democratic and Republican sides of the aisle.

Bush and a host of leading congressional figures had implored the lawmakers to pass the legislation despite howls of protest from their constituents back home.

The vote had been preceded by unusually aggressive White House lobbying, and spokesman Tony Fratto said that Bush had used a “call list” of people he wanted to persuade to vote yes as late as just a short time before the vote.

Lawmakers shouted news of the plummeting Dow Jones average as lawmakers crowded on the House floor during the drawn-out and tense call of the roll, which dragged on for roughly 40 minutes as leaders on both sides scrambled to corral enough of their rank-and-file members to support the deeply unpopular measure.

From the New York Times and news on the Dow freefalling over 400 points on the news.

Update — Dow is down almost 700 points.

I’m glad the vote failed. And no, I don’t think it’s a case of cutting off one’s nose to spite the face. I think it’s a case of a failed administration making one more attempt at a naked and craven power-grab. Get Paulson out of the picture, bring in some adult nonpartisan brains and knock-out a real solution, not some BS version of, “be very afraid and give me unlimited power.”

I think the US public finally woke up, and maybe the GOP did too after the Bush 43 effort at corporate socialism and their presidential standard bearer choosing an unqualified religious nutjob as his running mate.

Go below the fold for additional updates as the situation warrants.