Market Wrap: The Great Apple Book Conspiracy; McDonald's Grilled Following Numbers; Greece Nears End of Debt Marathon...in Athens

Market wrap-up for March 8th

End of the Day: Dow Jones up 70.6 to 12,907.94; Nasdaq up 34.7 to 2,970.42; S&P 500 up 13.3 to 1,365.91

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

• Greek debt! You don't have to put on the red light!: Greece is inching toward a debt swap deal. At last checks, Reuters reported 85 percent of private holders agreed to a deal, with 90 percent being the required minimum.
  
  Of the total €206 billion of outstanding debt, about €177 billion needs to participate. Meeting the requirement means Greece will receive a second bailout to the tune of €130 billion.
  
  The deadline was at 3pm EST, and results will be released early Friday. Indications from the market hint at full compliance, but the numbers will tell the final tale.
  
  
• Fast-food giant issues warning: McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) stock took a turn lower Thursday as its reported February sales rose 9.7 percent on a constant currency basis with comps up 7.5 percent. Amid the stronger U.S. numbers, McDonald's said, "As previously communicated, while McDonald's continues to deliver global top-line sales results, the current operating environment includes persistent economic uncertainty, austerity measures in Europe and commodity and labor cost pressures, particularly in the U.S. These challenges are expected to impact the Company's first quarter operating income growth."
  
  
• An inside "Jobs" on books?: Reports Thursday suggest the U.S. Justice Department is planning to file an antitrust lawsuit against Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), CBS Corp.'s (NYSE: CBS) Simon & Schuster Inc. Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group Pearson PLC's (NYSE: PSO) Penguin Group (USA), Macmillan, a unit of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH, and HarperCollins Publishers Inc., a unit of News Corp. (Nasdaq: NWSA).
  
  Former CEO Steve Jobs wanted to switch the pricing scheme with publishers to an "agency model" where Apple takes a 30 percent cut and made sure publishers wouldn't allow rivals to sell the same book at a lower price. The Justice Department now believes Apple and the publishers were cohorting in sort of a "price fixing" scheme, driving prices up industry wide.
  
  
• Initial claims rise: Data from the Labor Department Thursday morning showed a slightly worse-than-expected reading on initial jobless claims for the week ended March 3rd. Up from a revised 354,000 during the prior week, applications for unemployment totaled 362,000. Economists were looking for a reading of 352,000.
  
  For more color on the report, click here.
  
  
• More bad news in the chip sector: Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) lowered its first-quarter 2012 EPS guidance from 16 cents to 24 cents to a range of 15 cents to 19 cents, which compares to the Street estimate of 31 cents. Sales move from $3.02 billion to $3.28 billion to a range of $2.99 billion to $3.11 billion, versus the consensus of $3.16 billion.
  
  
• We're currently being enveloped by a gigantic solar flare. Heads up for radio, electrical disruptions. If you have a helmet...wear it.

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