Stocks in the U.S. continue to show gains as the outlook for a Greece debt resolution package improves. All eyes are now focused on George Papandreou as Greece’s prime minister is looking for a vote of confidence from his government. Whether or not Papandreou does get the vote he’s looking for can have a drastic impact on the current momentum in the stock market. Investors are watching the developments in Greece so closely that Wall Street was able to shrug off negative housing data in the U.S. released by the National Association of Realtors. The report said sales of existing single-family homes and condos fell 3.4 percent in May, but the drop was within the range of economist forecasts. Yet, investors seem to be looking for a reason to buy as nine of the 10 sectors tracked by Standard & Poor’s are trading up today, with only consumer staples trading lower. Oil prices showed modest gains, approaching $94 a barrel. Gold and silver prices are also up slightly.

Major U.S. Stock Indices

DJIA: 12,180.17 (+0.83 percent)
S&P 500: 1,293.70 (+1.20 percent)
NASDAQ: 2,677.98 (+1.84 percent)
Russell 2000: 802.99 (+1.84 percent)

In other news:

  • Research in Motion’s (RIMM) precipitous fall has made it a potential take-over target. Speculators are hoping cash-rich giants like Microsoft (MSFT) or Dell (DELL) will pull the trigger, but even with shares down this much, a $15 billion acquisition is easier said than done. [Bloomberg]
  • Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will address the market tomorrow. With QE2 ending, Wall Street and the rest of the economy are anxious to see what the Fed does next. [Marketwatch]
  • U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he’s confident the U.S. will not default on its obligations. [WSJ]
  • Walgreens (WAG) and Express Scripts (ESRX) are ending a $5.3 billion a year relationship after failing to negotiate a new contract. Walgreens almost ended a $4.3 billion a year relationship with CVS Caremark (CVS) last year in similar fashion. [NY Times]
  • Is Apple (AAPL) oversold? Morningstar (MORN) seems to think so. The firm has a fair-value target of $475 for Apple, representing over a 50 percent gain on current share prices.

Check back for more news.