Market Wrap: Hostess, Bakers to Explain Strike; Markets Rally as 'Cliff' Erodes; France Gets Trimmed; New Banking Exec Appointed

Market wrap-up for November 19th

End of the Day: S&P 500 up 27.0 to 1,386.89; Dow Jones up 207.7 to 12,795.96; Nasdaq up 62.9 to 2,916.07

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

• No bungee cord needed: U.S. markets rallied on the session Monday as it appears lawmakers might be nearing a resolution to the impending fiscal cliff. President Obama, speaking in Bangkok, said he was "confident" a deal could be reached.
  
  For more, click here.
  
  
• The judge is no Ding Dong: Hostess' request to liquidate was declined by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain today. Instead, Drain said Hostess and the Bankers' Union should meet in median to explain the strike that led to Hostess shutting down.
  
  In a statement, Drain commented, "To me, not to have gone through that step leaves a huge question mark over this case which I think will only be answered in litigation."
  
  
• New finance chief at a finance institution: Late Monday, JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) announced that its next Chief Financial Officer would be Marianne Lake. Lake, currently Chief Financial Officer of its Consumer & Community Banking business, will become Chief Financial Officer for the company and a member of it Operating Committee, effective early next year.
  
  For more on the move, click here.
  
  
• New corporate slogan: "Otellini Outside": Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) CEO Paul Otellini will be retiring in May 2013. Two curious things about this announcement: 1) it was made by the Company, not Mr. Otellini himself, and 2) no successor was named. To read more on the move, click here.
  
  
• Data for home builders came in positive today. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said its confidence index rose 5 points in November to a reading of 46, compared with expectations of 42. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) also said existing home sales rose 2.1 percent to a seasonally-adjusted run rate of 4.79 million, versus expectations of 4.70 million on the Street.
  
  For more on the numbers, click here.
  
  
• Movin' wood: Home goods retailer Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter results today. Adjusted EPS of 40 cents and revs of $12.07 billion topped expectations calling for EPS of 35 cents on revs of $11.9 billion. For more color, click here.
  
  
• Sacrebleu!: Moody's cut France's rating from Aa1 to Aaa today, with a Negative outlook. For the full report, click here.
  
  
• Locking in profit: HSBC (NYSE: HBC) ended the session higher Monday amid market chatter that it might be looking to unload a $9 billion stake in China's second-largest insurer, Ping An Insurance. The move is being mulled as HSBC is looking to return to more solid profitability in 2013 and avert succumbing to further growth slowdown in China. For more on the potential sale, click here.
  
  
• Thin as paper: Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) and Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) were rumored to be entering a strategic alliance for a new search engine today. However, AllThingsD is denying the chatter today, saying the two sides are not in any sort of talks. ATD cites sources on the information and called the Telegraph post "thinner-than-paper." Yahoo!'s partnership with Microsoft is also nowhere near being in trouble.

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