Market Recap: Markets Rally on Good News for Apple Shareholders

Markets closed up on Wall Street today:

▲ Dow +0.05 percent

▲ S&P +0.40 percent

▲ Nasdaq +0.75 percent

▲ Oil +0.84 percent

▲ Gold +0.42 percent

On the commodities front:

▲ Oil rose to $107.96 a barrel

Precious metals:

▲ Gold up slightly to $1,662.70 an ounce

▲  Silver rose 0.94 percent to settle at $32.91

(Related: Is Saudi Arabia Preparing for Iran Sanctions?)

Today’s markets were up because:

1) Banks: Following reports that the Federal Reserve made some minor corrections to its stress test results, bank shares gained in late trading, with Citigroup and Morgan Stanley leading the rally, climbing 1.3 and 2.7 percent, respectively. Bank of America shares topped $10 for the first time since August today before turning lower.

2) Housing: The Treasury Department announced today that it made taxpayers $25 billion in profit by getting rid of a bunch of mortgage-backed securities it first purchased to stem the financial crisis in 2008-2009. Housing will remain in focus this week with reports due on new home sales, housing, starts, and existing-home sales.

3) Apple. After announcing it would begin paying quarterly dividends to shareholders for the first time since 1995, Apple jumped in early trading, and continued to climb throughout the day, closing the day above the $600 mark and helping the tech-heavy Nasdaq climb 0.9 percent. Apple also said it would buy back $10 billion of its own shares over the next three years.

[Editor’s note that above is a cross post that originally appeared on Wall St. Cheat Sheet.]