The Dow Gains 198 Points, Nasdaq Adds 58

The Dow gained 198.27 points today to close at 11015.19, the Nasdaq added 58.15 points to close at 2144.15 and the S&P 500 moved 26.12 points higher to close at 1256.16. The markets continued higher for the second straight session. Positive earnings from Bear Stearns, mild economic data and Fed Chairman Bernanke's remarks to the Economic Club of Chicago helped push the Dow over the 11,000 mark again. Investors decided to push inflation and interest rate fears aside to find bargains on Wall Street.

Volume was active today with 1.98 billion shares trading on the NYSE and 2.3 billion on the Nasdaq. Advancers toppled decliners by a margin on 27:06 on the NYSE and 25:06 on the Nasdaq.

In individual stories, Encysive Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ENCY) ended 39% higher after announcing that the FDA has accepted for review the Company's complete response to the March 24 approvable letter regarding its New Drug Application for Thelin 100 mg tablets. Anadys Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ANDS) dropped 17.7% today after announcing that Kleanthis G. Xanthopoulos, Ph.D., is resigning as President and CEO at the end of 2006 or sooner if a successor has been identified and appointed.

Tomorrow traders will be looking for economic data on Current Account and University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment. Also, Carnival (NYSE: CCL), China Med Technologies (Nasdaq: CMED) and Winnebago Industries (NYSE: WGO) are scheduled to report earnings before the open. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) will also likely stay in the headlines after announcing that Bill Gates will step down in 2 years.

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