April 30, 2009 (FinancialWire) (By Philip Holmes) — Stocks finished higher on Wednesday after word arrived from the Fed that, while the economy is still wretched, the pace of increasing wretchedness has slowed. There was also some reassuring earnings news, most notably from Goodyear Tire & Rubber (NYSE: GT).

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 168.78 points during the trading session, to close at 8,205.40. The S&P 500 index finished up by 18.48 points, at 873.64. The Nasdaq composite index rose 38.13 points to close at 1,716.99.

Before we get to the good news, we’ll look at the miserable. Commerce reports that U.S. gross domestic product contracted 6.1% during the first quarter of 2009. This follows a 6.3% drop in the fourth quarter of 2008 and a 0.5% drop in the Q3 2008. The three quarter performance is the worst on record since 1957 to 58. It’s also worse than economists predicted.

But don’t wrap your lips around that shotgun yet. We see that both consumer spending and confidence were up sharply during April. Inventories dropped by a record $103.7 billion during the first quarter.

These hopeful signs were reflected in actions taken, and statements made, by the Fed on Wednesday. The Federal Open Market Committee wrapped its meeting with news that “household spending has shown signs of stabilizing but remains constrained by ongoing job losses, lower housing wealth, and tight credit”.

In terms of action, the FOMC decided to stay the course. The Fed funds target rate will remain at its present rate, (a range of 0% to 0.25%), and the Fed will stick with its plans to purchase as much as $1.25 trillion of mortgage-backed securities and up to $200 billion of agency debt by the end of 2009.

This stability of policy, after months of turmoil, near-panicky moves and disturbing statements by the Fed, probably did more to ease investor nerves than the actual data.

The Investrend Earnings Calendar features AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN), expected at $1.4 a year ago versus $1.28 a year ago; CEC Entertainment (NYSE: CEC), expected at $1.29 versus $1.26 a year ago; Strayer Education (NASDAQ: STRA), expected at $1.97 versus $1.64 a year ago; Atmos Energy (NYSE: ATO), expected at $1.33 versus $1.24 a year ago.

The Investrend Economics Calendar lists Weekly Initial Jobless Claims (8:30 a.m.), Personal Income & Consumer Spending for March (8:30 a.m.), Employment Cost Index for Q1 (8:30 a.m.), Chicago PMI for April (9:45 a.m.).

The Investrend Events Calendar showcases  AEM Annual General Meeting; AZN Annual General Meeting; BDK Corporation Shareholders Meeting; CREE, WYN, AZO at Argyle Executive Forum CMO Leadership Forum Miami; GLW Annual Shareholders Meeting; SCHW Business Update.

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 36 advancers versus 11 decliners and three unchanged. Advancers were led by Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) up 94.24%, On Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: ONNN) up 11.81%, Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) up 11.62%, Financial Bull 3x (NYSE: FAS) up 10.65%, Las Vegas Sands Corp (NYSE: LVS) up 10.60%, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) up 9.44%, Taiwan Semicond Ads (NYSE: TSM) up 8.74%, News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWSA) up 8.23%, Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C) up 7.96%, Ultra Financials Pro (NYSE: UYG) up 7.55%, Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) up 7.40%, Ultra Real Estate Pr (NYSE: URE) up 7.02%, Bk Of America Cp (NYSE: BAC) up 6.50%, Host Hotels & Resort (NYSE: HST) up 6.05%. Decliners followed E*Trade Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC) down 33.74%, Financial Bear 3x (NYSE: FAZ) down 11.54%, Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX) down 10.69%, Ultrashort Financial (NYSE: SKF) down 8.26%.

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

Investrend Website of the Day: http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=583

Quote of the Day: “Reading and writing, arithmetic and grammar do not constitute education, any more than a knife, fork and spoon constitute a dinner.” Sir John Lubbock

Today is: Beltane, National Honesty Day.

Happy Birthday: Queen Mary II of England, Sir John Lubbock, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Theodore Schultz, Robert Shaw, Cloris Leachman, Willie Nelson, Larry Niven, Isiah Thomas, Michael Waltrip, Kirsten Dunst.

Today in History: Moorish troops landed in 711 at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus). Supernova SN 1006, the brightest supernova in recorded history, appeared in the constellation Lupus in 1006. In 1789, on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington took the oath of office to become the first elected President of the United States. The territory of Orleans became the 18th U.S. state under the name Louisiana in 1812. Hawaii became a territory of the United States in 1900, with Sanford B. Dole as governor. RCA-owned NBC began in 1939 regularly scheduled television service from its New York station with the opening ceremonies of the 1939 New York World’s Fair broadcast. Franklin D. Roosevelt became in 1939 the first President of the United States to appear on television during the World Fair’s opening ceremonies broadcast.

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