Equities Market Roundup: Is the Stock Market Getting Bullish?

U.S. stocks continue to trade up this week, possibly suggesting that investors are finding opportunities in an oversold market. Wall Street could also be getting increasingly bullish on Greece’s outlook as the nation’s parliament is set to vote on the latest austerity plan later this week to help resolve its debt crisis. The growing sentiment among investors is that the second half of 2011 will see the economy start to pick up, led by a recovery in the stock market. Despite consumer confidence falling last month and most people still concerned about high unemployment and stagnate household income, investors seem to be getting more and more optimistic. The U.S. housing market is starting to see some improvement in certain areas as well, though analysts say it may only be temporary. Home prices rose in April in 13 of the 20 cities tracked by the S&P Case-Shiller index. As the second quarter draws to a close, stocks could be setting up for a second-half rally. Commodities are also rising today as oil prices move above $91 a barrel, and gold and silver prices edge a little higher.

Major U.S. Stock Indices

DJIA: 12,163.90 (+1.00 percent)
S&P 500: 1,293.14 (+1.02 percent)
NASDAQ: 2,720.60 (+1.20 percent)
Russell 2000: 814.15 (+1.12 percent)

In other news:

• France finance minster Christine Lagarde is expected to be named the new IMF chief after the U.S. and Russia gave their endorsement. [NY Times]
• Shares of Pandora (P) got a boost when DISH Network (DISH) CEO Joseph Clayton expressed interest in a possible acquisition. Shares of Sirius-XM (SIRI) also received a slight lift on the news. [Forbes]
• LinkedIn (LNKD) shares are also jumping after two major investment banks initiated coverage on the company with bullish ratings. JP Morgan (JPM) rated the company “Overweight” with a target price of $85, and UBS (UBS) rated it a “Buy” with a $90 price target. Both firms served as underwriters for LinkedIn’s IPO. [AP]
• After falling to third-place behind Coca-Cola’s (KO) Coke and Diet Coke, PepsiCo (PEP) is hoping a new aggressive ad campaign can help it regain some ground. [WSJ]
• Microsoft (MSFT), the sleeping giant, is finally awake and throwing its hat and Office suite of products into the cloud computing realm. It will be interesting to see how they fare against Google (GOOG), which has been slowly taking market share. [CNBC]