March 26, 2009 (FinancialWire) -- Stocks were up and down on Wednesday, but ended in the black, as investors took in rare good news on home sales and factory orders, all the while trying to figure out if Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has the right medicine to fix the ailing banking system. Investors were cheered by some strong economic news. New home sales were up in the U.S. in February, by 4.7%. This follows upside revisions to the numbers for December and January, all of which surprised economists in a good way. Inventories dropped nationally, along with median sales prices. Also in the U.S., durable goods orders saw a 3.4% gain in February, surprising analysts who expected a 2%. Tune in Thursday to your favorite cable dopefest for revised fourth-quarter gross domestic products and weekly initial jobless claims data. Will the Obama Administration's plan to fix the ailing financial system work? At this point the bigger question is "will it sell?" The two aren't nearly as related as we might hope, but that's politics. BusinessWeek's David Bogoslaw takes a bite of the first question, and figures that, "Treasury's program to cleanse bank balance sheets may be hampered by banks' unwillingness to pony up bad loans-and investors' fears of political risk." Bogoslaw's sources point out that the plan is no silver bullet, and that the only clear beneficiaries at this point appear to be the handful of asset managers to be picked by the government to oversee the sale of the toxic "legacy" securities that have dogged U.S. banks since the start of the housing downturn." He adds that many potential participants will be scared away by the political risks of taking money from the government at this time. After all, would you like to be the neighbor of an AIG exec these days? Big issues still have to be resolved regarding transparency. Banks have been secretive about the nature and value of the assets now in question. They don't seem to want anyone looking to closely at those "legacy assets", so why would investors assume that they have enough information to buy them? They won't, unless there's a process that allows a high level of due diligence but is nonetheless kept secret. The secret nature of the bailout proceedings is already creating volcanic levels of political pressure. How would taxpayers feel about a super secret jumble sale of assets in which the participants look suspiciously like the guys who got us all into this mess in the first place?

The Investrend Earnings Calendar features Accenture (NYSE: CAN), expected at $0.61; Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), expected at $1.38; ConAgra Foods (NYSE: CAG), expected at $0.37; Gamestop (NYSE: GME), expected at $1.34.

The Investrend Economics Calendar lists Weekly Initial Jobless Claims (8:30 a.m.), Gross Domestic Product for Q4 (8:30 a.m.), Corporate Profits for Q4 (8:30 a.m.), Treasury Sect. Geithner testifies before Congress (10 a.m.).

The Investrend Events Calendar showcases ASML Holdings NV General Meeting of Shareholders; ASTI, CRDN, MTZ, VLNC at Think Equity ThinkGreen Conference; Canon 108th Annual General Shareholders Meeting; CELG, PARD, MEDX at Needham & Company Healthcare Conference; DAC, ESEA, GSL, NM at Capital Link International Shipping Forum; HIG Special Meeting of Shareholders; LXK Analyst Meeting; SRE Analyst Meeting; VITA, ABAX, MMSI at Lazard Capital Markets Medical Device Technology Conference.

The Investrend Money Index is an indicator of the depth of market direction or indirection. While not always including the same stocks, the NYSE/NASDAQ 50 Most Actives indicate the direction in which the mass of money is flowing. Last session's trading showed 28 advancers versus 21 decliners and one unchanged. Advancers were led by JP Morgan Chase Co (NYSE: JPM) up 8.18%, Financial Bull (NYSE: FAS) up 7.53%, Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) up 7.04%, US Bancorp (NYSE: USB) up 6.94%, Bk Of America Cp (NYSE: BAC) up 6.65%. Decliners followed Dryships Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) down 13.95%, Amer Intl Group Inc (NYSE: AIG) down 13.67%, Financial Bear (NYSE: FAZ) down 7.99%, Huntington Bancshares Incorpora (NASDAQ: HBAN) down 6.90%, Ultrashort Financial (NYSE: SKF) down 6.06%.

Vote in the Investrend Poll Question of the Day at Investrend Information (http://www.investrendinformation.com).

Investrend Website of the Day: http://www.aloha-hawaii.com/hawaii/prine+kuhio/

Quote of the Day: "My inclination to go by Air Express is confirmed by the crash they had yesterday, which will make them more careful in the immediate future." A. E. Housman

Today is: Independence Day in Bangladesh, Prince Kuhio Day in Hawaii, Legal Assistants Day, Make Up Your Own Holiday Day.

Happy Birthday: Robert Frost, A.E. Housman, Joseph Campbell, Tennessee Williams, Sterling Hayden, Sandra Day O'Connor, Leonard Nimoy, Alan Arkin, James Caan, Nancy Pelosi, Bob Woodward, Diana Ross, Johnny Crawford, Steven Tyler, Martin Short, Leeza Gibbons, Marcus Allen, Jennifer Grey, Kenny Chesney.

Today in History: Richard the Lionheart was fatally wounded in 1199 by a crossbow bolt during a siege in France. William Caxton printed his translation of Aesop's Fables in 1484. An earthquake destroyed Caracas, Venezuela, in 1812. Jonas Salk announced his polio vaccine in 1953. Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter signed the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in Washington, DC in 1979.

[FirstAlert" was created by Gayle Essary, founder of Investrend Communications, Inc., parent of Investrend Information (http://www.investrendinformation.com). The opinions expressed in FirstAlert" do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Investrend.]

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