Bernanke Expects Interest Rates To Remain Low, Markets Climb

February 24, 2010 at 12:11 PM EST

Investors were cheered by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comment interest rates are expected to remain low. The Dow climbed 92 points to 10,374 while Nasdaq gained 23 points to 2237.

On the upside

PositiveID (Nasdaq: PSID) partnered with banking and payments technology company FIS (NYSE: FIS) to launch PositiveID's next generation Health Link personal health record.

Dollar Tree (Nasdaq: DLTR) reported higher fourth quarter earnings that beat expectations and forecast 2010 results ahead of estimates.

Zale (NYSE: ZLC) swung to a profit for the second quarter due to a tax benefit.

On the downside

H&R Block (Nasdaq: HRB) warned that fiscal 2010 earnings will fall short of estimates as more consumers prepare their own taxes.

Transocean (NYSE: RIG) disappointed with lower fourth quarter earnings that fell short of estimates.

Hertz Global (NYSE: HTZ) narrowed fourth quarter losses but the stock price fell.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 5 to 2 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 5 points to 630.