If anyone has noticed, Stock Market is getting better. And many banks saying, they don't need additional package from government - it seems,economy is taking U-turn finally.

Stocks jumped Thursday afternoon, extending Wall Street's two-session
rally, as investors scooped up banks and other shares hit in the recent
bloodletting. The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) gained 160 points, or 2.3%, with over 2-1/2 hours left in the session. The S&P 500 (SPX) index gained 17 points, or 2.4%. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) gained 37 points, or 1.6%


General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) said it won't have to take $2 billion in additional federal loans this month because its cost-cutting efforts have improved its cash position. Bank stocks were mostly higher, with Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500) and Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) all rising. The KBW Bank (BKW) sector index rose 3%.

Stocks also got a boost Tuesday after Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) cooled some worries about its future by saying it was profitable in the first two months of the year.

In other financial news, mortgage lender Freddie Mac, now under federal conservatorship, reported its sixth straight quarterly loss late Wednesday and asked the government for another $30.8 billion.

Drugmakers:
Swiss company Roche Holding said it's buying the remaining 44% of U.S.
biotech Genentech it doesn't already own. The $46.8 billion deal ends
an almost 8-month battle in which Genentech (DNA) repeatedly spurned Roche's offer. Genentech shares gained 2%.

Biotech Gilead Sciences (GILD) said it will buy drugmaker CV Therapeutics (CVTX) for $1.4 billion. CV shares jumped 28%, while Gilead shares fell 2%.

Pfizer (PFE, Fortune 500)
said that a late-stage clinical trial of its cancer drug Sutent has
been stopped early after the drug produced a significant benefit in
patients with a rare form of cancer. Shares of the Dow component jumped
7.5%.

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock
Exchange, winners topped losers by four to one on volume of 740 million
shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners almost 3 to 1 on volume
of 1.17 billion shares.

Economy: February retail sales
fell 0.1% after falling a revised 1.8% in the previous month, the
Commerce Department reported Thursday. Sales were expected to have
fallen 0.5%, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by
Briefing.com.

Sales excluding volatile autos rose 0.7% versus a revised 1.6% in January. Economists thought sales would fall 0.1%.

Bonds: Treasury prices
inched higher, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to
2.88% from 3% Wednesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite
directions.

Lending rates were little changed.
The 3-month Libor rate eased to 1.32% from 1.33%, while the overnight
Libor rate held at 0.33%, according to Bloomberg.com. Libor is a
bank-to-bank lending rate.

Other markets: In global trading, most Asian and European markets ended higher.

In currency trading, the dollar gained versus the euro and the yen.

U.S. light crude oil for April delivery gained $2.94 to $45.27 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

COMEX gold for April delivery rose $13.60 to $924.30 an ounce.