U.S. stocks surged Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average storming to its highest level in more than 13 months as finance ministers from the Group of 20 industrialized nations pledged to continue economic stimulus measures to help the global economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average, which was well supported by strength in its all but one component, rose 203 points, or 2.0%, to a 13-month high of 10,227.  The S&P500 climbed 2.2% for its sixth straight session gain to 1093 and the tech-heavy NASDAQ gained 2.0% to close at 2154.  The market’s measure of volatility, the CBOE Vix, plunged 4.3% to 23.15.

All ten S&P500 industry groups ended in the green, led by gains in basic material shares (+3.5%) and financials (+3.5%).  Crude prices added $2.00 to close at $79.43 even as Hurricane Ida was downgraded to a tropical storm.  Gold prices went past the $1100 level, up

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 15, 2009 – Four free stock picks are being made available today on Zacks.com. The industry’s leading independent research firm highlights one Zacks #1 Rank Strong Buy or a Zacks #2 Rank Buy stock for each of the four main styles of investing: Aggressive Growth, Growth & Income, Momentum, and Value.

The four highlighted picks are: Discover Financial Services (DFS), Phillips-Van Heusen Corp. (PVH), Legg Mason, Inc. (LM) and Corinthian Colleges Inc. (COCO).      Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Four daily picks are offered free at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5607

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Here is

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 8, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Bank of America Corporation (BAC), JPMorgan Chase & Company (JPM), Discover Financial Services (DFS), Citigroup (C) and Capital One Financial Corp. (COF).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:

BofA Vows Not to Hike Card Rate

Bank of America Corporation (BAC) said on Tuesday that it will not raise rates or change terms on consumer credit card accounts before the new law (CARD Act) intended to reform industry practices takes

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – August 21, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Citigroup (C), American Express Co. (AXP), Bank of America (BAC), Discover Financial Services (DFS) and JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

Citi May Levy Annual Charges

In order to offset potential losses from new legislation signed by President Obama, rising credit card defaults and increasing unemployment, Citigroup (C) is considering charging its credit card customers an annual fee.

In May, the president

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• Meredith Whitney raised Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) shares to "buy" from "neutral" with a $186 price target

• Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) added Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) to its Conviction Buy List, taking off shares of Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK)

• Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) posted positive comments ahead of Friday's forthcoming General Electric (NYSE:GE) numbers, saying it sees it earnings to beat Street estimates of 23 cents a share

• CIT Group (NYSE:CIT) warned of a possible "crisis" for 30,000 retailers should its failure to raise funds drive the firm into bankruptcy as it attempts to improve its near-term liquidity position

• Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) annual partner conference in New Orleans begins today, with reports expected on online software versions as well as plans for its "cloud" operating system, its next Office Suite software version, and pricing and plans for its Azure operating system

• Philips (NYSE:PHG), Europe's largest consumer electronics firm, surprised with second

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – July 8, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Discover Financial Services (DFS), American Express Co. (AXP), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK). Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog: Discover Offers $500m in Stock Discover Financial Services (DFS) announced a $500 million common stock offering late Monday. The credit card issuer plans to use a portion of the proceeds to buy back preferred stock issued to the U.S. Treasury under the Capital Purchase

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US stocks rose Thursday, helped by an advance in banking and healthcare stocks and a report on jobless claims and regional manufacturing revived hopes that the worst of the economic crisis is over.  Breaking a three-day losing run, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 58.42 points to 8555.60 and the S&P 500 index advanced 7.66 points to 918.37.  Tech-heavy NASDAQ ended the day little changed.  The S&P is now up 35.5% above its 12-year low hit on March 9.

Although financials have been a drag this week, Thursday saw the sector recording gains after a three-day losing streak and leading the list of gainers among the 10 S&P 500 industry groups with an advance of 2.5%.  Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) rose 4% after reporting a less-than-anticipated growth in bad loans.  Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC) jumped almost 7% after it was upgraded by Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS).  Bank of America (NYSE:BAC)

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U.S. stocks declined for the third consecutive day after Standard & Poor's cut its credit ratings and outlooks for 22 banks and bellwether FedEx Corp's weak profit forecast reignited worries of a prolonged recession.  Nevertheless, consumer and technology stocks helped Nasdaq end the day higher with a 0.7% gain.

Pre-market futures suggest a flat opening as traders look for concrete signs of an economic recovery, amid fears of increased government interventions and a crushed economic rebound.

Commodities and financial shares led the decliners yesterday, but healthcare stocks rose after Democratic leaders began working on a healthcare overhaul that would make it mandatory for all Americans to have health insurance coverage.  Shares traded in a narrow range, swinging between gains and losses.  Among S&P industry groups, financials led the declining issues with a 2.2% fall.  Oil and basic materials both recorded a 1.6% fall.  Stocks of consumer services companies

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pSpin-Offs often make for interesting investments. There are not that common, but tend to perform well, especially in their first couple of years as a stand-alone stock. This has been written about in a few areas, and specifically by investor and author Joel span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"Greenblatt/span, as this type of stock is one of his favorite investments. Let's look at what spin-offs are and why they outperform.br /br /a href="http://www.spinoffadvisors.com/"Spin-Off span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"Advisors/span/a, a company that specializes in research and span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"portfolio/span management of spin-offs, define them as this:br /br //pblockquoteIn a pure spin-off, a parent company distributes 100% of its ownership interests in a subsidiary operation as a dividend to its existing shareholders. After the spin-off, there are two separate, publicly held firms that have exactly the same shareholder base. This procedure stands in contrast to an initial public offering (span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"IPO/span), in which the parent company ...

Cautious optimism was at play yesterday as equity markets closed the day with modest gains.  Economic posts failed to cheer sentiments as the numbers couldn't suggest if an economic recovery is in sight.  However, financials recorded gains even as investors remained jittery over the May 4 release of government stress test results. The DJIA closed up 70 points for a 0.9% rise. The S&P held above 850, for a 1% gain and the tech-heavy NASDAQ edged up 0.4% on mixed earnings news from the tech sector. On the NYSE, a moderate 1.6 billion shares exchanged hands with advancing shares outrunning declining issues 9 to 2. Crude prices gained $0.77 to $49.62 after the OPEC Secretary General noted its members' 80% compliance of production cuts. Gold prices rose 1.6% on news of China's continued build-up of reserves.

Financials were the leading gainers yesterday, with a 3.6% advance, ahead of today's

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