Wednesday

Well, it seems today has been a day of anticipation as far as news goes! Steve Jobs finally unveiled Apple's highly anticipated new product, the iPad, a competitor for Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle among other e-readers. Also, many people, including investors, are anxiously awaiting what tonight's State of the Union Address will hold. As far as the market goes, financial stocks led a late rebound in the broader market, helped by the Federal Reserve's decision to leave interest rates near zero. Major indexes initially dipped but then rallied to new highs following the Fed rate committee's mid-afternoon policy announcement. In other markets, the dollar strengthened against both the euro and the Japanese yen. DJIA +41.87, Nasdaq +17.68, S&P 500 +5.33.

Wednesday

Well, after a long holiday, we are finally getting back in to the swing of things! We've spent over a week in bitterly cold temperatures here in Mississippi, and now things are finally starting to thaw out a little. Luckily the stocks haven't been affected by the extreme temperatures like the Jackson water lines have! Stocks enjoyed a broad rally today as an analyst upgrade of Merck spurred the healthcare sector higher, while financials benefited from hopes for high profits. The Federal Reserve's beige book of regional economic indicators suggested modest improvement in the U.S. economy, though activity remains low in historic terms. The dollar weakened versus the euro but gained against the yen. DJIA +53.51 S&P 500 +9.46 NASDAQ +25.59.