Market Watch 09/16/2009

It’s sunshine today.

The investors has been scooping up stocks Wednesday after an upbeat report on industrial production raised hopes that the economy is trengthening.

One big gains came form financial stocks, which have been building momentum as they push above certain price levels watched by traders. GE, which has a large financial arm and often trades like a bank stock, jumped for a third day.
 
The Dow rose 108.30 , or 1.1 percent, to 9791.71. The broder Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 16.13, or 1.5 percent, to 1068.76, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 30.51, or 1.5 percent, to 2133.15.

Home builder stocks surged after a builder confidence index from the National Association of Home Builders rose for the third straight month. Beazer Homes USA Inc. jumped 60 cents, or 14.2 percent, to $4.83 and Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. rose 41 cents, or 10.3 percent, to $4.41.
 
The dollar extended its slide and commodities, including gold rose. Commodities are priced in dollars and become less expensive when the dollars weakens.

Oil advanced after the government reported a large drop in crude supplies. Light, sweet crude rose $1.58 to settle at $72.51 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.