Despite a cautious report from home builders and despite a low volume day, today marked a clear win for the S&P 5000 and for the DJIA. The S&P broke through 1,100 and the DJIA broke through 11,000. We also had two mergers this morning, and while small they are signs that companies are willing to merge once more.

Here were today's closing bell levels:

Dow 10,090.76 +94.85 (0.95%)
S&P 500 1,097.52 +9.84 (0.90%)
Nasdaq 2,175.83 +19.03 (0.88%)

Top 10 Analyst Calls
Top Day Trader Alerts
Top Stock Rumors

Analyst upgrades:

• American Express (NYSE:AXP) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at FBR Capital, as the firm sees limited near-term downside in the stock. The firm raised its target price on the shares to $37 from $25.
  
• RBC Capital upgraded Estee Lauder (NYSE:EL) to Outperform from Sector Perform. Target to $44 from $34. UBS upgraded Nestle on expectations the company will begin returning cash to shareholders via buybacks and dividends.
  
• Piper Jaffray raised Dicks Sporting (NYSE:DKS) to Neutral from Underweight following positive channel checks and raised its target on the shares to $28 from $18.
  
• Sohu.com (NASDAQ:SOHU) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell by Pali Capital.
  
• Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was raised to Buy from Hold by Natixis.
  
• Sunpower (NASDAQ:SPWRA) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Macquarie.
• China Automotive (NASDAQ:CAAS) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merriman.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says this year will see the mirror image of last year, when redemptions ended the game for many managers.

One year ago today, a quarter ended that put hundreds of bullish hedge funds out of business. Today, a quarter ends that will put hundreds of bearish hedge funds out of business.

Oh, sure, last year some of the bulls were able to stumble through the fourth quarter, but October was a horror show and they ended up getting huge redemption letters and spending the rest of 2008 selling into the strength of the rally to return capital to investors and lock in losses.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says everyone in the trenches knows we're better off now -- only the academics disagree.

Am I nuts, or am I missing something? One year after the financial system was brought to its knees, we are back in the mid-9000s and we have taken off the table massive bank risk and are well on our way to recovery.

I keep listening to people like Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz say the banking system is worse off now and I say to myself, "That's just stupid and wrong and anti-empirical and actually just silly." Anyone who knows what's really going on has to feel this way. And where was Stiglitz when some of us were running around trying to save things?

If you're wondering why Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) have been bombarded by selling pressure today, look no further than this Wall Street Journal article (subscription required). The newspaper reports that the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is pushing for the government to split up Fannie and Freddie "into several smaller privately held companies that would issue mortgage related securities carrying an explicit government guarantee."

Under the terms of the proposal, Fannie and Freddie's offspring would no longer be permitted to sit on massive mortgage portfolios. Additionally, all mortgage-backed securities created by the duo would be backed by a federal insurance fund, replacing the rather abstract implied government guarantee that's currently in place.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the bizarre rules these days make it worth looking at stocks through a different lens.

How much should we care about low-dollar speculation? How much should we care about the incessant trading in CIT (NYSE: CIT) (Cramer's Take) and Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) (Cramer's Take), Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) (Cramer's Take), or Vonage (NYSE: VG) (Cramer's Take) and Sprint (NYSE: S) (Cramer's Take)? Or even Citigroup (NYSE: C) (Cramer's Take)?

First, I have to tell you that I worry about it less than I used to. Why? Because when we used to have rules and government officials that were willing to speak the truth about stocks, we wouldn't have these single-digit players out there every day. But without it, how in heck can people not believe that Fannie and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) (Cramer's Take) are the biggest and best bets on a turn in housing?

Today was an options expiration date, and the stocks closed higher. We had strength early on from Europe, but then some very surprisingly good housing data caused added cheer. The data was taken as permanent, but much still points toward the bump up being temporary. Even a negative call for 222 more bank closures by Meredith Whitney failed to jolt the markets.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,502.33 +152.28 (1.63%)
S&P 500 1,025.68 +18.31 (1.82%)
Nasdaq 2,020.36 +31.14 (1.57%)

We need a little background here. The US Federal Reserve has pledged to spend $12.2 trillion dollars to bail out the banks and financial institutions.

We have a mysterious set of circumstances taking place at the Fed. First off, our banks are now out of the woods, with some of them making billions in profits.

Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE).

Here's the kicker. The Fed intends to buy another $600 billion of mortgage backed securities.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says many stocks, considered frothy at one time, have turned into good turnaround stories.

Here's still one more version of a short-seller's nightmare. What happens when froth turns to investible? What happens when you see behavior that clearly indicates froth and then, somehow, the fundamentals change, and the stock takes off?

We have seen that recently in so many situations that it is pretty dazzling. It was one thing to see Genworth (NYSE: GNW) (Cramer's Take) back from the dead on its own.

Today was one of those Monday trading session that had no real direction and no real data to digest on a macro basis. So traders decided to lighten up after the big runs we have seen, particularly after four weeks of the markets rallying. There is also probably a sense of locking in some gains in case the two day FOMC meeting this week starts to take on a less free-money tone. Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA: 9337.18(-0.34%)
S&P500: 1005.89 (-0.46%)
NASDAQ:1992.24(-0.40%)

Top Analyst Calls:

LogMeIn Inc. (NASDAQ: LOGM) saw its quiet period end after its July 1 IPO date. Most analysts gave it a positive outlook and favorable rating, yet shares were down over 6% at $16.80 very late in the trading session.

AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) was weak all day. The parent of American Airlines may have more regulatory reviews as it and British Air will have to face a review over the Oneworld Alliance in antitrust matters at a joint hearing next month. Shares were down 4% at $5.71 in the final minutes of the day.

The government is in another pickle. Last September, Freddie and Fannie were effectively nationalized when the Fed stepped in and promised to buy $100 billion of preferred shares in each company and created warrants effectively diluting existing shareholder holdings.

Now the government finds that they have taken on a mountain of debt and wants out of this mess. According to the Washington Post, talks are underway to split the assets of the two companies along the lines of good bank/bad bank.

Outspoken congressman Barney Frank has no shortage of critics, and they're sure to be out in force today. This morning, The Wall Street Journal reported that the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, along with his colleague Anthony Weiner, is actually recommending that Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) relax their lending standards on condominiums.

The controversial request follows a decision by both Fannie and Freddie to tighten mortgage-lending standards for condos. In March, Fannie said it would no longer guarantee mortgages on condos in buildings where fewer than 70% of units have been rented, up from its previous benchmark of 51%. Freddie is due to implement similar measures in July. In a letter to the CEOs of both mortgage lenders, Reps. Frank and Weiner expressed their concerns that the higher standard "may be too onerous," and asked the lenders to "make appropriate adjustments" to their approach.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says we're trying to repeal what happened financially last year. Will it lead to strength industrially?

How low were we really? What was the real baseline pre-Lehman Brothers? What was going on in the country and the world before that financial atomic bomb dropped?

I struggle over that now, about what the true price of copper should be, about what the true price of oil should be, about the price of steel, all kinds of things. I try to figure out what the prices for everything were going to be before Lehman.

In celebration of Barry Ritholtz's critically-acclaimed new book Bailout Nation, he held The Big Picture Conference, which I was fortunate to attend.

Here are the main points from the most reputable speakers, Congressman Alan Grayson, Nassim Taleb, Doug Kass, and Josh Rosner.

Florida Congressman Alan Grayson discussed how systemic risk is an excuse for socialism and that interconnectedness is the main reason that these institutions are "too big to fail." In fact, these institutions no longer hold social or economic purpose, they are simply too big to exist.

Did you hear? Mortgage rates are surging. That should be no surprise. All we had to do was look at the sharp sell off in US treasuries and you know that mortgage rates would follow suit. The 30 year fixed rate mortgage rate jumped to 5.29%, up from 4.91% just a week ago. On April 2nd the rate was 4.78%.

Just to give you an example in real dollar terms, let's take a $200,000 30 year fixed mortgage at 5.29%. Your monthly payment would be $1109.37 and your 30 payments would be $399,372.25. At 4.91% your monthly payment would be 1062.67 and your 30 payments would be $382,560. So in real dollar terms your cost has risen $16,812.00. In addition lenders are charging 0.7% in fees and points, unchanged from the previous week.