SPECIAL NOTICE: Due to travel we will not publish a newsletter for Tuesday, February 9. We'll see you on Wednesday!

MONDAY - FEBRUARY 8, 2010: Stocks rose, rebounding from the biggest losses since March, as investors speculated the European Union may come up with a solution for budget deficits in Greece and Spain and consumer credit dropped less than forecast. Cisco Systems Inc., Intel Corp. and Alcoa Inc. climbed more than 2 percent for the biggest gains in the Dow Jones Industrial Average as the 30-stock gauge reversed a 167-point slide. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. led commodity producers to the biggest advance among 10 groups in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index as oil, gold and copper rebounded in electronic trading following the close of commodities exchanges. "People don't want to be short over the weekend if the EU says it will bail out Greece and Spain," said Neil Massa, an equity trader at MFC Investment Global Management Co. "A lot of investors were short and they’re closing their positions because they don’t want to get caught if something happens over the weekend."

The S&P 500 climbed 0.3 percent to 1,066.19 at 4:06 p.m. in New York after earlier extending a two-day slide to as much as 4.8 percent, the biggest since the end of March. The Dow rose 10.05 points, or 0.1 percent, to 10,012.23 after falling below 10,000 during the session for a second straight day. The Dow jumped more than 120 points in the final hour of trading as speculation of an EU bailout of Greece and Spain grew and the Federal Reserve said consumer credit in the U.S. declined in December by $1.7 billion, less than the $10 billion decrease economists estimated, according to the median in a Bloomberg survey. November’s $21.8 billion slump in consumer credit was a record.

The S&P 500 pared its five-day retreat to less than 1 percent. The benchmark index has fallen four straight weeks on growing concern over global government debt grew, China’s measures to curb lending and U.S. President Barack Obama’s proposal to limit risk-taking at banks. The gauge has slumped 7.3 percent from a 15-month high on Jan. 19 after rallying as much as 70 percent from a 12-year low in March.