Potpourri Of Good News

• Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is optimistic and said today that he is seeing "tentative signs" that the economy's dramatic decline is easing, but that full recovery won't come until the financial system is stabilized.


• Goldman reports $1.8 billion profit, and plans to sell $5 billion in stock, paving the way for it to repay its TARP loans.


• Investors betting on more good banking news pushed up CitiGroup 25 percent and Bank of America 15 percent.


• The DOW, Nasdaq and S&P500 are back to where we started the year and oil is still trading below $50 a barrel.


• The Dollar is gaining in strength against the Euro and the Japanese Yen.


• Mortgage rates are still at historic low levels (some rates hadn't been seen in more than 50 years). The benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage remains in the low 5 percent.