The New York based lender Citigroup, who had received three U.S. government rescue packages watched as its shares rose 25 percent higher.  The financial giant Bank Of America gained 15 percent and Goldman Sachs added five percent.  The nation’s second biggest home lender, last week reported about three billion in first quarter net income which was up from the previous year.  Apparently, the financial giants are leading the U.S. market recovery. 

Now that the banking sector is stabilizing experts believe the cycle will continue to move upwards. Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan who are all based in New York, are scheduled to release earnings this week. Bank of America, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and New York’s Morgan Stanley will report next week, along with Wells Fargo. Citigroup and Morgan Stanley are expected to report a loss on a per-share basis, and the four others will probably post a profit, according to analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Fears of nationalization have pretty much vanished as it’s becoming clear that the banks are slowly getting back on their feet.

Early March saw bottoms in all the major indexes.  Since then the Dow has risen by almost 20%.  March may have been the bottom of this bear market some analysts are now saying. Bulls are seeing signs of a gradual turn in the U.S. economy with stocks and the banking system that were not evident in other bounces during this bear market in the last 17 or so months.  Recent reports indicate home sales have exceeded expectations and this past Friday a report indicated that consumer spending rose 0.2% from January.

Hundreds of billions of dollars of stimulus money is beginning to take effect.  Much of this will rely on the results of the stress tests for banks, which are expected to be completed in April. A passing grade for the banks would do much to restore confidence in the financial sector of the stock market. More talk of additional stimulus may create panic and negate much of the recent bounce. April will be a true test for the bulls recent bounce-back.