Market Talk

Why the late-session surge? Beats me.

Big rebound in oil prices, and thus energy stocks, helps guide US markets higher, with Chevron and Exxon Mobil alone combining for about 25% of the Dow Industrials’ advance.

Oil prices get goosed by a bullish Goldman Sachs (not the first time we’ve seen that act), and bank stocks get some help from RBC calling for a multi-year bull market for the sector. Bold calls, both. JPMorgan, BofA add about 20% of DJIA’s upside.

Tight range of trading is no surprise, as no one wants to be a hero ahead of tomorrow’s May jobs report. But we did get another curious flare higher into the close, third time since last Friday.

In his morning comments, Art Cashin at UBS mentioned traders’ puzzlement at the last-minute action seen at yesterday’s close and the big move late last Friday.

“Assuming it’s not purposeful manipulation, there may be some new operation that distorts the close,” he said. “Some suspect it may be hedging moves related to ETFs. We’ll keep asking about to see if there is a plausible explanation.”

Hope he finds one.

Financials, materials, energy all surge. DJIA climbs 74.96 to 8750.24, and Nasdaq Comp rises 24.10 to 1850.02. S&P 500 ends 10.70 higher at 942.46.

Since when did Fed chairman Ben Bernanke publicly care so much about the federal deficit? 

Bernanke almost sounded like a deficit hawk during yesterday’s testimony as he called on lawmakers to restore fiscal balance over the long-term, former labor secretary Robert Reich writes on his blog.

“This from a Fed Chair who’s loosened the money supply more than any Fed chair in recent history, printing money as if it were going out of style,” he says. “What’s going on?”

Bernanke’s likely trying to assure investors he won’t let inflation get out of control, Reich notes.

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Remember when this was the hot new thing?

Palm Pre reviewers are gushing over the device, and investors are equally excited.

The stock’s jumped from $1.14 last December to more than $13 today, hitting a 52-week high of $13.64 in mid-day trading as the Pre’s release is only a couple days away.

Digital Daily’s John Paczkowski has a great roundup of Pre reviews. The general consensus is extremely positive, with poor battery life, limited apps and some hardware flaws as the only detractors to the device.

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Blogs are buzzing about the role Hank Paulson played late last year in preventing the financial system from collapsing.

WSJ’s Evan Newmark stirred the pot yesterday with a blog post saying it’s time to enshrine Paulson as a national hero. He applauds the TARP for stabilizing credit markets and saving the banks “at the lowest possible cost.”

“TARP was the beginning of the end of the crisis,” he says.

Many deemed Paulson and the TARP as failures, especially after the Obama administration took office. But Newmark argues Tim Geithner hasn’t exactly really done anything significantly different from the previous administration. 

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Investors are in a bit of wait-and-see mode ahead of tomorrow’s May jobs report, though we’ll see weekly jobless claims at 8:30am, which offer more current color on the employment picture.

While initial claims have showed some signs of leveling off, continuing claims keep growing like a weed. A break in their unrelenting rise, when it eventually comes, should satisfy folks looking for a bottom, and could further energize bulls.

Stocks overseas are mixed, oil’s recovering some of its losses yesterday. May chain-store sales reports flow this morning. 1Q productivity reading due at 8:30am. S&P futures up less than a point; 10-yr a little lower, yield at 3.56%.