Recovery in Banks Lifts Markets

(Updated - February 12, 2016 11:48 AM EST)

S&P 500 advanced Friday as bank stocks surged higher. Notable gainers included Citigroup (NYSE: C) and JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM). Others like Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) also showed strength, along with the rest of the group.

Yesterday JPMorgan's CEO Jamie Dimon bought 500,000 shares of the company for $25 million. The vote of confidence was enough to stem the recent tide of share price weakness, and momentum carried into Friday's session.

Separately, Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) said it was buying back $5.4 billion in debt. The Bank's strong liquidity position allows it to repurchase these securities without any corresponding change to its 2016 funding plan, the bank said.

Bulls also took comfort in the fact that technical levels on the S&P 500 held up on Thursday, despite intense downside pressure and a retest of the critical support at 1800 - an area that was previously tested on January 20.

The S&P 500 and Dow gained 1.5% indraday, while the Nasdaq rose 1.4%

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