Bank of America Corp (BAC) Leads Dow Higher

A day after rallying to close at its highest point ever, the Dow Jones Industrial Average did it again. Wednesday’s advance was the fourth straight day of blue-chip advances. The major catalyst behind today’s gain? A jobs report showing private sector employment increased by 198,000 workers in February didn’t hurt — especially when estimates called for 170,000. The Dow responded by adding 42.5 points, or 0.3%, to close at 14,296.

The highest-flying blue chip last year, Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) , relived its glory days today with 3.2% gains to top the Dow. The Federal Reserve reported that most areas across the nation were seeing increases in consumer spending today, an encouraging sign for the health of the economy. Tomorrow, the Fed will reveal how Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) and other financial institutions did on their stress tests, which investors clearly weren’t stressing over today.

Alternatively, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) ended up as the weakest link in the Dow, losing 0.9%. While the European Commission’s $731 million fine against the software giant certainly isn’t news that most investors welcome with open arms, failing to allow Windows users a proper choice between Internet browsers isn’t exactly, shall we say, a material thing to worry about, especially with more than $60 billion in the bank. The only problem: There are bigger problems, like how to succeed in mobile.

In a bizarre day of trading, Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) shares, up as much as 6.5% in the morning, swung to a 6% loss by day’s end. The reason behind the rapid decline was news that the CEO search would include only company outsiders. This qualification precludes current COO Kal Raman, who has experience at both Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY).

Benefitting from an upgrade from Raymond James analysts, shares of First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) were also up huge in the morning session, having added more than 8% at one point. The only difference: First Solar was able to preserve 3.2% gains. Raymond James justified its bullishness, explaining the nearly 15% decline in solar stocks since their 52-week highs this year is overdone.

The article Bank of America Leads Dow Higher originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor John Divine has no position in any stocks mentioned. You can follow him on Twitter @divinebizkid and on Motley Fool CAPS @TMFDivine.The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Amazon.com and eBay. It owns shares of Bank of America and Microsoft.

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