Stocks up 1%; Dow up 250 points

April 20, 2015 MONEY (MSM)

Fed's Dudley hopeful on rate hike this year

Economic performance will determine when the Federal Reserve finally raises U.S. interest rates from near zero, an influential Fed official said on Monday, adding he hopes to tighten policy later this year. “We have to see what unfolds,” New York Fed President William Dudley said in a speech that repeated cautious optimism that the U.S. economy will continue to expand and that inflation will begin to firm later this year.

April 20, 2015 MONEY (MSM)

Morgan Stanley posts highest profit since financial crisis

The bank’s trading business, like those of its main rivals, got a boost in the quarter after the Swiss central bank scrapped a cap on the franc, the European Central Bank announced its quantitative easing program and the U.S. Federal Reserve took steps toward tightening monetary policy. Morgan Stanley capped a mostly strong quarter for the big U.S. banks with its 60 percent rise in net profit, followed by Goldman

April 20, 2015 MONEY (MSM)

Halliburton profit surges past expectations as cost cuts pay off

Revenue fell by 4 percent to $7.05 billion in the first quarter, but beat analysts’ average expectation of $6.96 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, helped by strength in the Middle East and Asia and Latin America. North America, which accounted for more than half the company’s first-quarter revenue, “experienced an unprecedented decline in drilling activity,” Chief Executive Dave Lesar said in a statement. The average U.S. rig count has