LONDON (ShareCast) - The US stock market bandwagon rolls on, with the advance given new impetus by the Federal Reserve disclosing, two days ahead of schedule, stress test results which suggest that 15 of America’s largest 19 banks could maintain adequate capital levels even in a recession scenario.

Zions Bancorporation leads the banking sector higher after it revealed it would not need to raise new capital to repay $1.4bn of funds it accessed under TARP - the Troubled Asset Relief Programme.

Elsewhere in the sector, Regions Financial, Bank of America, Capital One, SunTrust Banks and American Express are the stand-out stocks. In SunTrust's case, the rise represents a rally, after it was clobbered yesterday after being named by the Fed as one of the institutions that failed the stress test.

Insurance firm MetLife was another financial institution that did not make the cut with the Fed's tests, and it is the day's biggest blue-chip faller.

Lots of investors are digging miner Cliffs Natural Resources after it announced on Tuesday that it would double its dividend, as it changes tack from using retained earnings to fund big acquisitions. The new policy means the company will have more cash to dole out to shareholders, starting with a 62.6 cents uarterly pay-out to shareholders on the register as of April 29th, up from a dividend of 28 cents paid in the corresponding quarter of last year.

Citigroup, which rates the shares a "buy" nd has a $96 target price for the stock, gave the move the thumbs-up but noted that the group had alrady flagged a change of emphasis to organic growth following its acquisition of Consolidated Thompson last year.

MACROECONOMY

Import prices for the month of February rose by 0.4% month-on-month (Consensus: 0.6%).

The US current account deficit worsened to $124.1bn in the last three months of 2011 (Consensus: -$115bn).

OTHER MARKETS

The most actively traded futures contract (April) for West Texas sweet light crude is off 77 cents at $105.94 a barrel in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

10-year US Treasuries have fallen out of bed as investors are prepared to entertain more risky investments. The benchmark 10-year Treasury is down 86 cents to $98, pushing the yield up by one-tenth of a percentage point to 2.22%.

S&P 500 - Risers
Zions Bancorporation (ZION) $20.96 +7.32%
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (CLF) $69.11 +6.46%
Regions Financial Corp. (RF) $6.09 +5.45%
LSI Logic Corp. (LSI) $8.99 +5.33%
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $8.82 +3.91%
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY) $64.73 +3.49%
Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) $52.62 +3.28%
SunTrust Banks Inc. (STI) $23.31 +3.24%
Staples Inc. (SPLS) $15.98 +2.86%
American Express Co. (AXP) $55.74 +2.76%

S&P 500 - Fallers
MetLife Inc. (MET) $37.70 -4.46%
Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) $8.09 -3.80%
Citigroup Inc. (C) $35.29 -3.18%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $16.79 -2.84%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $103.79 -2.41%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $121.58 -2.38%
Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM) $36.62 -2.27%
Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR) $19.87 -2.26%
Time Warner Inc. (TWX) $35.78 -2.03%
Helmerich & Payne Inc. (HP) $58.96 -1.90%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $8.82 +3.91%
American Express Co. (AXP) $55.74 +2.76%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $27.87 +1.38%
General Electric Co. (GE) $19.85 +1.33%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $43.35 -1.50%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $24.28 -1.18%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (BBBY) $64.73 +3.49%
Staples Inc. (SPLS) $15.98 +2.86%
Apple Inc. (AAPL) $583.66 +2.74%
Altera Corp. (ALTR) $38.98 +2.42%
Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI) $12.31 +2.41%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $16.79 -2.84%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $26.47 -2.18%
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. ADS (TEVA) $43.56 -1.98%
Expeditors International Of Washington Inc. (EXPD) $44.15 -1.82%


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