Market Reflections 4/21/2009

Reassurance from Treasury Secretary Geithner that the vast majority of banks are well capitalized helped to ease questions over stress tests and sparked a rally in the stock market where the S&P 500 gained 2.1 percent to end at 850.08. Earnings news was mostly upbeat including an optimistic outlook from industrial conglomerate United Technologies. Kansas City Federal Reserve President Thomas Hoenig offered lively testimony, saying the too-big-to-fail doctrine is uncompetitive and is at the center of the financial crisis. The dollar held firm at $1.2950 against the euro while Treasury yields were mixed. Oil firmed to just over $47 while gold held steady at $884.