Stocks rise on strong retail sales data – C, NOK, CLWR, AMED, LLY

Wall Street got a boost on Monday after strong U.S. retail sales for the month of September held out hopes of a return in consumer confidence and optimism about revival in the economy.

Consumer spending drives about two-thirds of the U.S. economy.

Shares of banks also rose after Citigroup reported earnings that were better than expected.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) rose 95.38 points to close at 13,424.23, its biggest gain since September 13.The S&P 500(INDEXSP:.INX) was up 11.54 points at 1,440.13 and the NASDAQ Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) rose 20.07 points to 3,064.18.

Data on retail sales, released by the U.S. Commerce Department showed that Americans had spent more on buying cars and gasoline while sales of building materials also showed an uptick.

These three together make up core retail sales and are a good indicator of consumer spending in the economy. Core retail sales rose 0.9 percent in the month, compared to an overall growth of 1.1 percent. It surpassed the forecasts made by economists.

Companies that rely on consumer spending, like Lowe's, TJX Cos. and Yum Brands rose after the data was released.

Citigroup Inc.(NYSE:C) shares also rose 5.5 percent to $36.66 after it reported earnings that beat analyst estimates.

Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) rose 3.5 percent, while JPMorgan Chase rose 1.8 percent.

A fall in China's inflation rate to 1.9 percent in September from2 percent in August also held out hopes that the world's second largest economy will announce some measures to further stimulate growth.

Clearwire Corporation(NASDAQ:CLWR) was the notable winner and soared 16% to $2.69 after Sprint was agreed to be acquired by Japanese cell phone company Softbank Corp.

Nokia Corporation (ADR)(NYSE:NOK) saw a sudden pop up and surged 4.70% to $2.68 ahead of the company critical quarterly earnings on Thursday. Investors would like to see the company’s cash position as analysts are expecting the company’s available cash to play an important role going forward. In terms of earnings revenue, analysts continued to believe that the company will report loss and lower revenue due heavy competition from Apple and Google’s android. So, keep your eyes on NOK this week.

Eli Lilly & Co.(NYSE:LLY) resumed uptrend and rose 4.12% to $52.53 after the company said results from a late-stage study of its metastatic gastric cancer treatment were positive. ISI Group sees $600 million annual sales from the drug's use in gastric cancer alone, while noting it's also being tested in other tumor types, too, which could boost sales if trials are positive.

Amedisys Inc(NASDAQ:AMED) was the notable loser and fell 9.40% after the company  it reached a new agreement with health insurer HumHumana Inc.(NYSE:HUM) that will keep the companies' relationship going, but will also bring in less revenue. 

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The cyber- attack on the major banks: Bank of America Corp(NYSE:BAC), JPMorgan Chase(NYSE:JPM), Citigroup Inc.(NYSE:C)

Hackers from Iran have been disrupting the cyber network of three of the biggest banks of America. These attacks, which can be traced back to late 2011, have been occurring with much more regularity of late, and informers and sources confirm that Iranian Hackers are indeed the culprits. The three major banks, JPMorgan Chase & Co.(NYSE:JPM), Citigroup Inc.(NYSE:C) and Bank of America Corp(NYSE:BAC)  have been facing network problems and web traffic on account of the cyber campaigns which the hackers have launched, which more often than not, take the form of “denial of service”.

This traffic has been caused by the discordance produced by the campaign which tends to block up the networks as well as the websites belonging to the banks, and sources are almost certain that this has to do with the failure which Iran suffered in 2010 during the crash of its Nuclear program, on account of the Stuxnet Virus. This virus, it is alleged, has been created by the U.S.A and this crash has lead to Iran developing its cyber network drastically.

Senator Joseph Lieberman said that the attack is surely perpetuated by Iran. Lieberman is the Chairman of the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and he made a statement, blaming this disruption in the cyber networks of the famous American Banks, on Iran.

People are not sure, however, as to what context the hackers fit into. They may be backed by their government, or they may be individual groups of nationalists, out to seek revenge for the nuclear program failure.

The issue, however, points Iran’s ability to successfully interfere with America’s cyber information systems. It is not sure whether they have stolen information or have bugged the systems, and there is a inquiry being conducted to find out exactly that.

The attack might also have been geared towards the banks on account of Iran not getting Western Economic sanctions.

Tehran, on the other hand, has publicly announced its intention to encourage people to hack into western cyber information and disrupt the cyber security of America. 

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