The Sun’s Financial Diary

Market Recap
U.S. stock market ended the holiday shortened trading week with gains of more than 3% for all three major indices last Thursday after Wells Fargo said it earned a record $3 billion in the first quarter. Optimism in the banking sector carried the stock market to its fifth straight weekly gain. After reaching 12-year [...]

We took our daughters 65 miles east today to visit The New York Botanical Garden, where there’s a Orchid Show going on right now. It’s the first time we have ever been there (though we lived on the other side of the city for years) and the kids really enjoyed the trip.
With the kids running [...]

Market Recap
It has been quite a long time since we had a rally in the stock market like the one we had last week as investors were encouraged by comments made by Citigroup and Bank of America chiefs that the nations largest banks were profitable in the first two months of this year. The rally [...]

Market Recap
As I mentioned yesterday, February turned out to be a very bad month for stocks. In the last week of the month, stocks retreated to below the November 2008 lows. For the week, the Dow dropped 4.11% to 7062.93, the S&P 500 tumbled 4.54% to 735.09, and the Nasdaq declined 4.40% to 1377.84. Precious [...]

Market recap
It’s rare to see the stock market and the unemployment rate go hand in hand, but it did happen last Friday when the Labor Department reported that 598K workers lost their jobs in January, pushing the unemployment rate to 7.6%.  At the same, the stock market also rallied more than 2%. The reason? The [...]

Hello and welcome to the 94th edition of the carnival of Money Stories. The theme of this carnival is Chinese New Year,  which starts yesterday. Hope the new year, the Year of the Ox, brings everybody prosperity and luck. Enjoy!

Credit
Adam presents The Age of No Negotiation: Credit Card Edition posted at Your Money Relationship.
Jim presents [...]

Check out these articles of the week:

Credit Cards Calling The Shots @ Frugal Dad
Did I Meet My 2008 Financial Goals? @ Brip Blap
How to File Your Taxes for Free – Free Tax Software and E-File @ Generation X Finance
No Economic Stimulus Check? How Obama’s Stimulus Plan Affects The Middle Class @ The Digerati Life
Dispelling Common [...]

Market Recap
Stock markets lost momentum in the first full trading week of 2009, after reaching 5-month high last week, overshadowed by worsening economy reports and corporate earning outlooks. On Friday, the government reported that U.S. employers cut 524,000 positions in the last month of 2008, pushing the unemployment rate to a 16-year high of 7.2%. [...]

Market Recap
U.S. stock markets kicked off 2009 with the most gain in 5 weeks. In the holiday-shortened trading week, stocks got a boost from rising oil price and the first batch of bailout money for GM, the troubled automaker fighting for its life. On Friday, General Motor rallied 14% after receiving $4 billion from the [...]

Market Recap
U.S. stock markets ended the week mixed after technology shares and surging commodity prices led both Nasdaq and S&P 500 higher, despite failed attempt on the Capitol Hill to rescue Detroit’s troubled automakers. Tech bellwethers such as Intel and Google surged after House Speaker Pelosi indicated that the U.S. House will act soon in [...]