Market Wrap: Bernanke Affirms Yet Cautions; Apple Looks to China; Yahoo!'s Management Battlebots

Market wrap-up for March 26th

End of the Day: Dow Jones up 160.9 to 13,241.63; Nasdaq up 54.7 to 3,122.57; S&P 500 up 19.4 to 1,416.51

The following is a brief summary of events moving markets today:

• Ben is complacent...for now: Fed Chief Ben Bernanke made some remarks on the economy at the National Association for Business Economics Annual Meeting Monday morning.
  
  In part, Bernanke said low rates were needed to keep unemployment in check and stronger economic growth would be needed to keep job improvement in place. Plain and simple, easy money will continue. Traders cheered the sentiment.
  
  For the complete transcript, click here.
  
  
• Leading indicator lags: The sale of homes already existing on the market slipped 0.5 percent to 96.5 for February, missing expectations for a rise of about 1 percent. January's reading at 97.0 was the highest point since April 2010.
  
  February pending sales rose 14 percent from the same period last year.
  
  
• Myriad may give back mulligan: Myriad Genetics (Nasdaq: MYGN) shares ended higher amid news the US Supreme Court ordered a lower court to revisit the patentability of human genes amid a March 20th decision.
  
  The US Court of Appeals will reconsider the decision which cleared patents on genetic material related to Myriad's tests for both breast and ovarian cancer.
  
  
• This will end well: Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) ended the session higher Monday following an announcement it appointed three new members to its Board of Directors. On the move, hedge fund Third Point issued a statement, saying in part: "Today, the Board has shown yet again that they are unable to execute deals that are in the Company's best interests. Sadly for shareholders – who will once more bear the costs – the consequence of the Board's refusal to accept Third Point's shareholder-friendly proposals will be a time-consuming and distracting proxy contest that the Company can ill-afford."
  
  For more color, click here.
  
  
• Apple's "Cooking" up something big in China: Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) CEO Tim Cook got back from a trip to China and said he held "great meetings" with officials. Apple is said to be aiming for further expansion in China with new investment. In an unrelated story later in Monday's session, it was rumored Apple would be opting to integrate Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) into its iOS, providing an alternative choice to Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) for users in China. For more color on that, click here.
  
  Apple ended the session up 1.8 percent Monday.

Click here to go to Streetinsider's Full News Feed and never miss a beat!

---

Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!

---

You May Also Be Interested In

• Netflix's subscribers, TSMC, Tesla upside - what's moving markets
• Google (GOOGL) Makes Structural Changes to AI Teams to Quicken Progress: CEO
• CME Group (CME) Metals Complex Reaches All-Time Daily Volume Record