Dow Makes It 8 >>> Longest Win Streak Since '07

The markets stayed hot on Thursday as an afternoon comeback landed the Dow more than 3,000 points above its March low and in the green for the eighth consecutive day, something that hasn't happened in more than two years. U.S. equities rebounded on Thursday, lifted by financial stocks, while crude oil bounced off two days of declines on the turn in Wall Street sentiment.

The upbeat turn in financial markets overshadowed a growing sense among investors that recent asset price gains and optimism about a world recovery have been overdone.

"There's a floor in this market and it's probably at least 5% below the recent highs and there's still so much cash on the sidelines that when we see a selloff, there are retail investors and institutional investors ready to jump back in." said a Wall Street dealer.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 37.11 points, or 0.39%, to 9580.63, the Standard & Poor's 500 gained 2.86 points, or 0.28%, to 1030.98 and the Nasdaq Composite added 3.30 points, or 0.16%, to 2027.73.
The Dow’s win streak appeared to be nearing an end as the bears pushed stocks sharply lower Thursday morning amid a 2% dive for crude oil. The losses were only temporary as oil and the markets soared back into the green.
The up-and-down trading day comes amid a particularly calm stretch for Wall Street as the markets barely reacted to new reports on jobless claims and gross domestic product. Underscoring the relative calm, the S&P 500 narrowly avoided closing with a change of 0.25% or less for the fourth day in a row, something that Miller Tabak's Dan Greenhaus said hasn't happened since February 2007.
Thanks to a flurry of economic optimism, the Dow has now surged more than 3,000 points since hitting a 12-year low on March 9. But even some bulls question whether or not the markets have gotten ahead of an economy still facing heavy job losses and a weak housing market.

Today’s headlines are mostly positive, “but I am itching to sell here. I have reached most of my targets and am ready to pull the trigger,” Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital Markets, wrote in a note before the market opened. “We are getting a correction 5%-10% within the month…You have to take some chips off the table due to the nature of the season we are in.”

Crude Oil Stays Above $72

Crude oil was at the center of Thursday's back-and-forth action as the commodity plunged below $70 a barrel before making a comeback, taking some of the pressure off energy stocks like Massey Energy and Consul Energy. Crude settled at $72.49 a barrel, down $1.06, or 1.48%.