Markets Surge Over Home Sales And $1 Trillion Plan

Better than expected exiting home sales along with the government's plan to remove up to $1 trillion in toxic assets from banks boosted the markets to a sharply higher close with the Dow rocketing 497 points to 7776. Nasdaq jumped 99 points to 1556.

On the upside

The 2008 compensation package for NetApp (Nasdaq: NTAP) chief executive Daniel J. Warmenhoven dropped 29% from the previous year.

Although Moody's Investor Service downgraded GE's (NYSE: GE) rating, Moody's assured investors that GE's outlook is stable.

Rising crude oil prices lifted shares of Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM).

Alaska Communications Sytems (Nasdaq: ALSK) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.215 per share of common stock payable on April 15, 2009 to shareholders of record on March 31, 2009.

Shares of real estate investment trusts Developers Realty (NYSE: DDR) and Colonial Property Trust (NYSE: CLP) rose after existing homes sales surprised analysts by climbing 5.1% in Februray.

Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) announced that 2009 salaries will be frozen for senior executives.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 8 to 1 on the NYSE and by 5 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks rocketed 34 points to 434.