more bad news for the dems....

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose sharply on Tuesday, with the Dow and S&P 500 indexes hitting their highest in nearly five years as U.S. Treasury yields fell and record profit from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted shares of financial companies.

A decline in U.S. Treasury 10-year note yields, following an unexpected drop in February retail sales, helped ease interest-rate worries for stock investors who fear that higher rates will hurt corporate profits.

"The market just wants to know that these rate increases are done," said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 75.32 points, or 0.68 percent, to end at 11,151.34. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 13.35 points, or 1.04 percent, at 1,297.48. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 28.87 points, or 1.27 percent, at 2,295.90.

The S&P 500 index registered its biggest one-day percentage gain since January 3.

Sucks when you set yourself up to profit only by bad news, doesn't it?



(Filed under the fifth column)