U.S. Stocks Advance in Longest S&P 500 Winning Streak in a Year (DOW 11,000 resistance?)

Bears are getting really frustrated! Is DOW 11,000 short term resistance? Will we see the pull back? Will sell in May and go away hold this year around? Unfortunately, I have no more margin left, so I can't complain that much, but it seems MON is going down while the rest of the market are making new highs. Here's today's market recap that pretty much sums up what happened this week:

U.S. stocks rose for a sixth week, giving the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index its longest winning streak since April 2009, as reports showed the fastest job growth in three years and higher-than-estimated retail sales.

Banks and retailers led the advance in the S&P 500, with Regions Financial Corp. and Macy’s Inc. rising 5.2 percent or more following the economic reports. American Express Co. and Microsoft Corp. rallied at least 4 percent, leading the Dow Jones Industrial Average, as European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet saying he doesn’t expect Greece to default on debts bolstered optimism a financial crisis will be averted.

The S&P 500 advanced 1.4 percent to 1,194.37 this week, building on its biggest first-quarter rally since 1998. The Dow climbed 70.28 points, or 0.6 percent, to 10,997.35. It exceeded 11,000 for about 10 seconds yesterday, crossing that threshold for the first time since September 2008.

Stocks “remain in a powerful bull market,” said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial Group in Westport, Connecticut, which oversees $650 million. “Until something changes, it seems unlikely we’re going to have a substantial pullback.”

Alcoa Inc. becomes the first Dow company to report quarterly results on April 12. Combined profit for S&P 500 companies will increase 30 percent from a year earlier, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Intel Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and General Electric Co. also post results next week.

Jobs, Retail Sales

Economic reports helped drive this week’s rally by stocks.

U.S. employers added 162,000 jobs last month, the most since March 2007, figures from the U.S. Labor Department showed on April 2, which stock exchanges were closed for Good Friday. March sales at 31 chain stores rose 9 percent, the biggest one- month gain since March 1999, the New York-based International Council of Shopping Centers said April 8.

The Institute for Supply Management’s index of service industries, which make up about 90 percent of the economy, showed the fastest growth since May 2006. Inventories at U.S. wholesalers rose 0.6 percent in February, a sign companies are ramping up orders as sales climbed to the highest level in more than a year.

Measures of S&P 500 banks and retailers advanced 4.4 percent, 3.7 percent and 3.4 percent, the most among 24 industries in the index.

Takeover Speculation

Regions Financial climbed 11 percent to $8.59. SunTrust Banks Inc. rallied 5.5 percent to $28.65 after Credit Suisse Group AG said it may be a takeover target for overseas financial companies. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. rose 5.2 percent to $179.12. Bank of America Corp. increased 3.1 percent to $18.59.

Gap Inc. gained 5.2 percent to $24.85 after March sales at the clothing seller rose 11 percent, about three times the estimate by Retail Metrics.

Target Corp., the second-largest U.S. discount chain, climbed 4.8 percent to $55.67 after exceeding estimates for March sales and saying first-quarter profit will top forecasts.

US Airways pared its weekly retreat to 1.1 after surging 11 percent on April 8 amid speculation it would purchase UAL Corp. The tie-up probably would be an all-stock transaction, with the smaller US Airways as the acquirer, said two people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private. Spokesmen for the companies declined to comment.

UAL, the owner of United Airlines, rose 5.1 percent to $20.50.

Casinos Surge

Wynn Resorts Ltd. advanced 13 percent to $87.17, MGM Mirage surged 23 percent to $14.80 and Las Vegas Sands Corp. advanced 13 percent to $24.12. A Nevada report showed gaming revenue statewide rose almost 14 percent in February from the same month a year earlier. Las Vegas Strip revenue increased 33 percent.

The S&P 500 rallied 4.9 percent during the first quarter, the biggest advance to start a year since 1998. The index is up 2.1 percent in the second quarter.

“We’ve come back from the brink fairly meaningfully, we’ve seen huge recovery in the value of risk assets,” Tobias Levkovich, New York-based Citigroup Inc.’s top U.S. equity strategist, said in a Bloomberg Radio interview. “What we still have are intermediate and justifiable concerns around sovereign credit, around the structural unemployment issues.”

Massey Energy Co. slid 12 percent to $46.72.

An April 5 explosion at the company’s Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, West Virginia, killed 25 people in the worst U.S. mining disaster since 1970. The mine was issued two citations on the day of the explosion. One was given because inspectors found that mine maps were out-of-date. A similar situation contributed to the deaths of two Massey miners in January 2006 at the Aracoma Coal Co. Alma Number 1 mine fire.