In the face of more NEGATIVE than POSITIVE developments, the stock markets had their best week since last July.  Below is a succinct list of last week’s events:

Positives:

1) Japanese stocks bounce, reactor mania calms but not out of the woods
2) Initial Claims below 390k for 5th week in past 7
3) New Home Sales awful but keeps new homes off the market to better suck up existing ones
4) French biz confidence highest since Oct ’08 and German IFO remains near best on record
5) Trichet reaffirms desire to hike rates to quell inflation
6) Philippines joins fight against inflation by raising rates

Negatives:

1) University of Michigan confidence falls 10 pts from Feb, 1 yr inflation expectations at 2 1/2 year high
2) Portugal heading into hands of EU/IMF as gov’t falls, Irish yields also spike
3) Feb Durable Goods disappoint even with easy comparison
4) Existing Home Sales well below estimates
5) Oil prices back near recent high as bombs drop on Libya
6) UK CPI now at 4.4%

Source: The Big Picture