Stocks on Wall Street began the session in positive territory and have continued to gain upside momentum throughout the session. The are being aided by a surge in oil prices, which have rallied more than 10% on the heels of reports that OPEC nations may be ready to talk about a production freeze. The market, hoping to put an end to it recent losing streak, looks on track to do so with participation likely to tail off in the afternoon ahead of a long holiday weekend. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., retail sales increased 0.2% in January, versus expectations for an increase of 0.1%. Import prices dropped 1.1%, while export prices fell 0.8% last month. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index fell to 90.7 in the preliminary February print, versus expectations for a 92.3 reading. In Europe, the euro zone's gross domestic product grew by 0.3% in the last three months of 2015, meeting expectations. In Asia, Japan suffered another ugly day, with its key indexes each falling about 5%, after the market reopened following a one-day holiday. COMPANY NEWS: Square (SQ) advanced 8% after credit card giant Visa (V) disclosed in a regulatory filing that it holds shares in the company that could convert to the equivalent of a 9.99% stake in the payments up-and-comer. The details about the stake held by the Dow member, which has held an investment in Square since prior to its IPO, also appeared to give a boost to Twitter (TWTR), which both share Jack Dorsey as their Chief Executive Officer... The Dow is being helped by the advance in shares of JPMorgan (JPM), which are higher by 8% after its CEO Jamie Dimon disclosed he bought 500,000 shares of the bank's stock in the open market yesterday. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Baidu (BIDU), which rallied 9% after it received a non-binding proposal to acquire Qiyi.com. Also higher were Groupon (GRPN) and Wynn Resorts (WYNN), which gained 27.5% and 13.5%, respectively, after reporting quarterly earnings. Among the notable losers was Pandora (P), which fell 12% after the company reported lower than expected fourth quarter earnings per share. The loss gave back all of the gains, and then some, that the stock enjoyed yesterday after the New York Times said the music service operator has held talks about selling the company. Also lower were Activision Blizzard (ATVI) and CBS (CBS), which were down 9.5% and 1%, respectively, after reporting quarterly results. INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 236.58, or 1.51%, to 15,896.76, the Nasdaq was up 58.02, or 1.36%, to 4,324.85, and the S&P 500 was up 28.03, or 1.53%, to 1,857.11
