Market Wrap: Apple Gets More 'Padded'; U.S. Confidence is High; DJIA Ends Above 13K Mark

Market wrap-up for February 28th

End of the Day: Dow Jones up 23.6 to 13,005.12; Nasdaq up 20.6 to 2,986.76; S&P 500 up 4.6 to 1,372.18

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

• The good, the bad, and the confident: Stocks closed higher this afternoon despite worse-than-expected readings of durable orders and the S&P/CaseShiller Home Price Index. In contrast, the U.S. consumer confidence board said confidence rose to its highest level in a year at 70.8 in February, compared with expectations calling for 62.5, and a revised 61.5 for January.
  
  
• A new Apple product is imminent: Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) shares hit yet another notable price level after hours today: trading over $536.40, the company now boasts a market cap over $500 billion, or half of one trillion dollars. This is the first time a US company has ever traded to such a level.
  
  
• Clearwire is loving this: LightSquared CEO Sanjiv Ahuja left his position this month following a move by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which would revoke a permit for the Company to set up terrestrial networks, saying there were concerns it might interfere with GPS signals.
  
  In lieu of the move, LightSquared is aiming to swap spectrum with some held by the U.S DoD, though the DoD might decline the invitation.
  
  In addition to the above news, Harbinger's Philip Falcone was named to LightSquared's Board.
  
  
• Just not enough time in the day..: Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) social networking imitative, Google+, has signed up a significant number of users, but its still missing one thing: retention. According to new data out today, Google+ gets an average of 3 minutes of face time from users during any given month. This compared with 405 minutes for Facebook and 89 minutes at Tumblr and Pinterest. For more color, click here.
  
  
• Git yer rally caps on!: The Dow Jones closed above 13,000 for the first time since May 2008. Though the index touched that mark several times in the past few sessions, it always managed to sneak below the mark ahead of the final bell.

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