From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : The stock market scored its best single-session percentage gain in almost seven weeks. The effort was broad based and came on the back of a commitment by leading officials in Europe to recapitalize the region's flagging financial institutions.
Early participants focused on news that over the weekend Germany's Chancellor Merkel and France's President Sarkozy pledged to support a plan intended to shore up capital at European banks and financial outfits. Their commitment came across as more unified than what had been previously displayed by the pair. The notion that eurozone leaders will be more concerted in their efforts to stabilize the region's precarious financial conditions, thereby reducing the risk of contagion, emboldened buyers, who engaged in an aggressive bout of buying.
The S&P 500 rallied more than 3% for its best one-day jump since August. That helped the broad market measure push through its 50-day moving average and close above that technical trend line for the first time since July.
No specifics regarding plans to improve financial conditions in Europe are currently available, but bank stocks and financial issues performed as if the risks inherent to their positions in Europe were reduced dramatically. That gave both the KBW Bank Index and the broader financial sector gains of more than 5%.
The euro also won support from traders. The currency rallied 2.0% to $1.365 for one of its best single-session percentage gains in a year.
The euro's bounce put pressure on the dollar, helping to amplify buying interest among commodities. Oil was an especially strong performer in the commodity complex. The energy component climbed almost 3% to close pit trade at $85.41 per barrel.
The combination of higher oil prices and a stronger equity market helped energy stocks rally to a 4.5% gain. They were second only to financials. Materials plays, also helped by higher commodity prices, swung to a 4.2% gain.
Bonds will re-open for regular trading hours tomorrow. The market was closed today in observance of Columbus Day.
Advancing Sectors: Financials +5.1%, Energy +4.5%, Materials +4.2%, Industrials +3.6%, Consumer Discretionary +3.5%, Tech +3.4%, Health Care +2.5%, Telecom +2.1%, Utilities +2.0%, Consumer Staples +1.6%
Declining Sectors: (None) DJ30 +330.06 NASDAQ +86.70 NQ100 +3.5% R2K +4.4% SP400 +3.6% SP500 +39.43 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2125/1.57 bln/435 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2784/888 mln/256
9:32AM Motorola Mobility announced that Henan Cable has deployed Motorola M3 Media Server for both Video On Demand and Network Digital Video Recording (MMI) 38.01 +0.10 :
SunEdison, subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR) announced that KGAL GmbH & Co. has recently acquired 33 megawatts of solar photovoltaic systems located in Italy and Spain from SunEdison.
Apple (AAPL $383.47 +13.67) announced pre-orders of its iPhone 4S have topped one million in a single day, surpassing the previous single day pre-order record of 600,000 held by iPhone 4.
10:11 am S&P Tech Sector Showing Strong Gains, In-line With the S&P 500 (AAPL)
The tech sector is trading higher today, inline with gains in the broader market. Semiconductors are showing slight relative strength in the tech space with the Philly Semi Index trading 2.5% higher. MU (+5.6%) is a notable leader in that index. Among other major indices, the S&P 500 is trading 2.3% higher, while the NASDAQ is trading 2.2% higher. The QQQ is also trading 2.2% higher. Among tech bellwethers, AAPL (+3.1%) is showing notable strength.
In news, AAPL (+3.1%) announced iPhone 4S pre-orders top one mln in first 24 hours. Also, it was reported that Alibaba has talked with Temasek for YHOO (+3.5%) stake.
Among notable analyst upgrades this morning, MU (+5.6%) was upgraded to Buy at Citigroup. In downgrades, S (-5.6%) was downgraded at several firms including Deutsche Bank and Kaufman, SFSF (-1.2%) was downgraded to Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets, LOGI (+1.7%) was downgraded to Underperform at BofA/Merrill, and ACN (+0.4%) was downgraded to Neutral at Robert W. Baird.
No notable names in tech set to report results today after the close.
AI
Market Data 
Markets 
