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Stocks rallied Friday, finding momentum at the end of a choppy session ahead of the first wave of quarterly corporate results due out next week.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) added 59 points, or 0.6%. The S&P 500 (SPX) gained 8 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq (COMP) composite rose 21 points, or 1%.

All three major indexes drifted on both sides of unchanged during the session before finally turning higher in the last hour.

Investors returned from the Independence Day holiday this week in the mood to buy shares that had been battered in a two-month selloff. In the four sessions this week, the Dow gained 512 points, or 5.3%. The S&P 500 rose 5.4% and the Nasdaq was up 5%.

It was the best week in nearly a year for the market, with all three major gauges seeing their biggest results since the week ended July 17, 2009. in that week, the three majors all gained between 7% and 7.4%.

"The market has rebounded this week in anticipation of a fairly decent period of corporate earnings," said Tyler Vernon, chief investment officer at Biltmore Capital. "This will be a nice bounce, but long term, I think a lot of the concerns about the global economy are still there."

While there haven’t been many positives on the economic front, there’s been some optimism that companies will still be able to continue to make profits, even with the economic strain.

Analysts currently expect year-over-year growth of 27%, according to the latest figures from Thomson Reuters. Dow components Alcoa (AA, Fortune 500), JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) and GE (GE, Fortune 500) are all due next week.

Google: The Internet behemoth renewed its license with the Chinese government to operate its site in that country, following a four-month battle over censorship.

A renewal had been in question due to tension between the company and China over the censorship of search results online payday loans. But Google’s decision last week to no longer automatically redirect users of Google’s China site to its uncensored Hong Kong site seemed to pave the way for the renewal.

Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) shares gained 2.4%.

On the move: Financials were among the big gainers Friday, with JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), Citigroup (C, Fortune 500), US Bancorp (USB, Fortune 500) and Regions Financial (RF, Fortune 500) among the stocks lifting the KBW Bank (BKX) index by 2.4%.

Caterpillar (CAT, Fortune 500), Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500), DuPont (DD, Fortune 500), Merck (MRK, Fortune 500) and Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) were among the Dow’s biggest gainers.

Market breadth was positive and volume was very light. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers by almost four to one on volume of 880 million shares. On the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners by three to one on volume of 1.61 billion shares.

Economy: Wholesale Inventories rose 0.5% in May after climbing 0.2% in April. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected inventories to rise 0.4%.

World markets: European markets gained, with Britain’s FTSE 100 rising 0.5%, Germany’s DAX advancing 0.5% and France’s CAC 40 climbing 0.5%.

Asian markets rallied after South Korea raised its benchmark interest rate, seen as an optimistic sign for the economy. Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.5%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.6% and the Shanghai Composite rose 2.5%.

Commodities: U.S. light crude oil for August delivery rose $1.01 to $76.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

COMEX gold for August delivery gained $16.30 to $1,209.80 an ounce.

Bonds: Treasury prices fell, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 3.06% from 3.02% late Thursday. Debt prices and yields move in opposite directions. 

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Tesla Motors Inc. said late on Monday that its shares priced at $17, raising $226.1 million for the electric car maker.

The closely watched Palo Alto company's company's shares get their first test on the open market on Tuesday when they trade on NASDAQ with the TSLA symbol.

Tesla sold 13.3 million shares instead of the 11.1 million originally planned and exceeded its previous estimated range of between $14 and $16 a share.

The company plans to use the money to help it bridge its offerings from the flashy two-door $109,000 Roadster that was its first car to a $50,000 Model S sedan that it plans to make at the former New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant in Fremont.

The company has yet to make a profit and doesn't expect to until after it begins selling the sedan in volume. It has lost $290.2 million since it was founded in 2003 no teletrack payday loan.

The IPO is expected to trigger a $50 million investment by Toyota Motor Corp., which previously ran the NUMMI plant in a 25-year partnership with General Motors Co. GM pulled out of the plant last summer and Toyota made its last Corolla there on April 1.

Tesla also has the backing of the U.S. government, with a $465 million loan.

In addition to the Toyota plan to buy shares, Tesla gave its underwriters the option to buy 1.995 million more shares under certain conditions. Goldman, Sachs & Co. is underwriting the IPO along with Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank Securities.

For more coverage of the Tesla-Toyota partnership, click here.

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Outcast Communications co-founder Margit Wennmachers has reportedly joined Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz as a partner.

The Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital blog reported that Wennmacher will join Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz in September as the firm's third partner, specifically advising it on marketing.

Wennmachers co-founded San Francisco-based OutCast in 1997. The firm was acquired in 2005 by London-based Next Fifteen Communications payday advance. Co-founder Caryn Marooney and the other five members on the management team will remain at the firm.

“For me, it’s a chance to build a top-notch VC firm and work with talented entrepreneurs, so what’s not to like?,” All Things Digital said that Wennmachers wrote in an email.

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Healthcare Trust of America Inc., a Scottsdale-based real estate investment trust, has purchased the Federal North medical office building in Pittsburgh for about $40.5 million.

Federal North is a four-level medical office building comprising nearly 192,000 square feet. Included in the deal is a separate four-level, 525-space parking garage. The Class A building, located near a 724-bed hospital, is 99 percent occupied.

“This acquisition is consistent with our long-term strategy of acquiring high-quality medical office buildings in key markets which are affiliated with strong health care systems,” Mark Engstrom, HTA’s executive vice president of acquisitions, said in a prepared statement bad credit pay day loans.

Engstrom added that Federal North is the REIT’s 10th acquisition in 2010.

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Commerce Bancshares saw profits per-share jump 39 percent in the first quarter, despite a 10 percent drop in lending compared to a year ago.

Commerce, the region’s biggest locally based bank, earned $44.2 million, or 53 cents per share, in the quarter ended March 31 compared to $30.8 million, or 38 cents per share a year earlier.

Commerce blamed the big drop in lending on weak demand from borrowers. Loans fell in all categories except consumer credit cards easy pay day loans.

David Kemper, CEO, credited the rise in profits in part to a decline in money put aside to cover bad loans. The amount of problem loans and foreclosed property fell, as did loan charge-offs. Problem loans and foreclosed property made up 0.61 percent of assets, a low figure compared to most banks.

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The ongoing story of Washington Mutual's 2008 closure

Sept. 25, 2008: WaMu is seized by federal regulators and sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co. The next day, Washington Mutual Inc., the bank holding company, files for bankruptcy protection.

Sept. 23: WaMu’s bank run begins to slow. Meanwhile, potential bidders of the bank grow quiet.

Sept. 20: Former U.S. Treasury secretary Hank Paulson introduces a $700 billion bailout plan to refuel the beleaguered financial system.

Sept. 18: Fishman releases a carefully worded letter to WaMu customers, trying to reassure them about the bank’s soundness.

Sept. 18: WaMu’s bank run peaks as customers withdraw $2.8 billion in one day nationwide.

Sept. 16: The federal government pumps $85 billion into American International Group (AIG), the international insurer.

Sept. 16: Fishman meets with WaMu’s regulators, the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), in Washington, D.C. He tells them he has talked with Citigroup, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase about a buyout.

Sept. 15: The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets 500 points.

Sept. 15: Lehman Bros., the worldwide securities firm, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Sept. 14: Merrill Lynch agrees to sell itself, and its 17,000 brokers, to Bank of America.

Sept. 11: Moody’s cuts WaMu’s debt rating to junk status, rates its financial strength at D+ and issues a negative outlook on the company, citing its asset quality and the potential for future losses. The news sparks WaMu’s second and final bank run.

Sept. 8: Fishman flies to Seattle to meet with WaMu’s executive team. Shortly afterward, he begins seeking a buyer for WaMu.

Sept. 7: Longtime WaMu chief executive Kerry Killinger is ousted by the company’s board of directors. New York banker Alan Fishman is appointed to succeed him.

Sept. 7: The federal government takes over giant mortgage purchasers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as they teeter on the brink of failure.

End of August: WaMu executives meet with Moody’s Investors Service about a possible ratings downgrade.

July 30: WaMu’s first run tapers off and deposits return to the bank.

July 12: First bank run on Washington Mutual begins, centered in Southern California.

July 11, 2008: The federal government seizes Pasadena, Calif.-based mortgage lender IndyMac after a $1.3 billion bank run.

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SPANISH LAKE — Construction under way on a $112 million building to replace the National Personnel Records Center in Overland ensures the retention of 800 jobs for the area, St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley said Wednesday.

Federal officials and developers updated Dooley on the project, at 1829 Dunn Road, where work began in November. When completed in 2011, the three-story building will hold the records of 57 million people who served in the American military from the late 1890s until a decade ago, when the service branches moved to electronic records.

It will replace the mammoth records center at 9700 Page Avenue, which became vulnerable when the Pentagon announced its realignment of military installations in 2005. That building was built in 1956.

"This was not supposed to stay in St. Louis," Dooley said. "This is a win-win, not only for the county, but for the whole metropolitan area."

The new site is just east of Hazelwood East Middle School and north of Interstate 270. It also will house records of former civilian employees, now kept at 111 Winnebago Street in St. Louis.

The Molasky Group, a Las Vegas developer, will own the 547,000-square-foot building and lease it to the federal General Services Administration for about $9.2 million annually, or $185 million over 20 years.

Mary Ruwwe, a regional official for the federal agency, defended the lease as the only way to get the project done. She said the government usually wanted to build and own a project of this sort.

"We are doing it this way because it’s a funding mechanism that works," Ruwwe said no fax cash advances. "We knew we couldn’t get funding to renew the old building, and this (construction) project might not get congressional appropriation for years."

Chuck Moody, Molasky’s senior vice president, said the lease payments would cover upkeep and maintenance, which he estimated at about $2.8 million annually.

Ruwwe said the government needed a better environment for preserving the records. The government gets 1.5 million requests each year for copies of military records from service personnel, their families, historians and the simply curious.

The project, a joint venture of Tarlton Corp. of St. Louis and Hardin Construction Co. of Atlanta, will employ as many as 800 construction workers, officials said. As of Wednesday, workers were digging for the foundation and grading parts of the 29-acre site.

The National Archives Records Administration, which maintains the military records, is to begin moving in April 2011 and be fully operational in November 2011. Bryan McGraw, an archives official, said the new building would use less than half the floor space of the current one for storage because of higher stacks and better retrieval systems.

Ruwwe said the government would probably demolish the records-storage building on Page and keep the office addition for other agencies. A fire in 1973 damaged or destroyed about 16 million records, including those for many Army veterans of World War II.

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Mesa officials insist a Cactus League ticket tax to help pay for a new Chicago Cubs ballpark is still alive at the Arizona Legislature.

An official familiar with the Cubs stadium financing plan said Major League Baseball and Commissioner Bud Selig are trying to trying to put the brakes on the bill at the Legislature. The official, who asked not to be identified, said MLB wants Mesa, the Cubs and other teams to look at funding options beyond a tax on all Arizona spring training games. Other Cactus League teams, including the Arizona Diamondbacks, object to a ticket tax being used for the Cubs stadium.

MLB has been talking to Arizona lawmakers and others about setting up special tax districts to help finance stadiums. MLB officials did not respond to requests for comment. But the unnamed official said the league was asking the Cubs and Mesa to extend their timetables for a new stadium, and for various sides to take the summer and fall to find a new plan for the 2011 session.

The Cubs want a new a stadium by 2013 and have threatened to move to Florida without one. MLB also is telling the Cubs to back down from that threat, according to the official.

The bill with the Cubs ticket tax has been stripped down and passed by the Arizona House of Representatives without a $1 car rental fee in Maricopa County. And, while the ticket charge is part of the approved measure, it did not include a specific amount for the charge. Previous plans included an 8 percent charge on all Cactus League tickets to help pay for an $84 million new stadium for the Cubs.

Mesa government relations director Scott Butler said the ticket plan and the bill are not dead, and the city is trying to work out a plan that can pass this legislative session.

"The version of (House Bill) 2736 that passed out of the House yesterday was intentionally stripped down as a show of good faith to all of the stakeholders. By and large, most members of the Legislature want to see the Cubs remain in Mesa and provide an ongoing revenue source for other Cactus League facilities. The only question has been what is the appropriate mixture of revenue sources to make this happen," Butler said.

"I’m still 110% confident that we could push a surcharge-only bill through the Senate and to the governor, but we don’t want to fight the 14 other teams and MLB at each step of the process no teletrack payday loans. The Senate will give all parties the opportunity to renew discussions and find a revenue mixture that most can support. The alternative is that the Cubs leave Arizona and the $130-plus-million annual economic impact is relocated to Naples (Fla.)," Butler said.

House Speaker Kirk Adams, R-Mesa, and Majority Leader John McComish, R-Ahwatukee, are the main proponents of the ticket tax, along with Mesa Mayor Scott Smith. They argue that the ticket tax revenue will go to other projects besides the Cubs stadium and that before the House vote, the bill included language to use some of the money to help Pima County with stadium debt.

Thus far, the trio has opposed other funding ideas including some proposed by lobbyist John Kaites, who represents the Chicago White Sox. Kaites has talked about taxes on restaurants, satellite television communications as well as special tax districts. Butler and Mesa lobbyist John MacDonald contend those ideas either won’t raise enough revenue or lack political support.

MLB has talked about special property tax districts around the proposed stadium to capture revenue for various teams, not just the Cubs.

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon supports similar sales tax districts that could be used in downtown Phoenix. Arizona Rep. Jerry Weiers, R-Glendale, proposed a special tax district bill that could have been used to help the Phoenix Coyotes at Jobing.com Arena, as well as US Airways Center in downtown Phoenix, but that bill has gone nowhere.

The D-backs back a countywide public vote on a sales tax increase to pay for the Cubs ballpark. Mesa officials point out a similar vote was not held to get a sales tax increase to pay for Chase Field in Phoenix.

McComish previously said he was open to other ideas, but he has not supported other options. The lawmaker did not respond to a request for comment.

The Cubs’ financing battle comes in the wake of funding shortfalls for the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority, which previously funded Cactus League stadiums via hotel and car rental taxes. But the recession has hurt tourism and resulted in a $10 million shortfall for AZSTA, forcing alternative plans for the Cubs.

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Ecology and Environment Inc. will expand its operations western United States with the formation of a new subsidiary.

The Lancaster environmental consulting firm said the added unit, Lowham Walsh LLC, will focus on the Rocky Mountain and Northern Great Plains region. E&E (NASDAQ: EEI) recently increased its ownership stake in its Walsh subsidiary to 76 percent from 58 percent.

“E&E has been working in the west for nearly four decades, and we recognize the enormous importance of this part of the country for meeting national energy demands. This increased regional presence will enable us to better serve our clients and is a valuable addition to our domestic operations,” said company president and CEO Kevin Neumaier.

The expansion follows E&E’s recent opening of an office in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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India’s food-inflation rate stayed at around 18 percent for a sixth week, a sign that farm prices may have peaked and will start declining soon.

An index measuring wholesale prices of lentils, rice, vegetables and other food articles compiled by the commerce ministry rose 17.81 percent in the week ended Feb. 27 from a year earlier after a 17.87 percent gain the previous week, according to a statement in New Delhi today.

New crops of wheat, sugar and lentils will ease pressure on farm prices, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, a top economic adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said this week. Sugar prices in India have dropped 19 percent from a record on Jan. 8 as production rose and the government took steps to boost supplies.

“Food inflation is already showing some early signs of rolling over,” said Rajeev Malik, a Singapore-based regional economist at Macquarie Group Ltd. “Monsoon rainfall remains a key risk that is too early to call.”

Agriculture prices surged in India after last year’s monsoon rains between June and September, the main source of irrigation in the country, were the weakest since 1972.

To ensure enough supplies, the government extended duty- free purchases of white sugar until Dec. 31 and banned export of wheat and rice.

Food Output

Sugar buyers in India, the world’s biggest user, may renegotiate some import contracts as a decline in domestic prices to a four-month low makes overseas purchases unprofitable, Michael McDougall, a senior vice president at Newedge USA, told Bloomberg News on March 5.

Sugar output in India, the world’s biggest buyer of the commodity, will be higher than forecast as cane yields improve, the Indian Sugar Mills Association said March 9. Production may total 16.8 million metric tons in the year ending Sept. 30, up from an earlier estimate of 16 million tons, the group said.

The wheat harvest will also reach a record this year and the government may consider lifting a ban on its exports, Indian farm minister Sharad Pawar said March 4 free credit report and score.

Even so, India’s benchmark wholesale-price inflation may accelerate to 9.67 percent in February, the highest in 16 months, according to the median estimate of 11 economists in a Bloomberg News Survey. The commerce ministry will release the inflation data on March 15 at noon in New Delhi.

Excise Tax

Sixty percent of the January inflation reading of 8.56 percent was contributed by food prices.

Food inflation “won’t be a cause for concern” in the next fiscal year starting April 1, Ahluwalia said March 9.

“Food-price inflation has moderated over the last couple of weeks,” central bank Governor Duvvuri Subbarao told reporters in Basle, Switzerland, on March 8. He said manufacturing inflation is showing signs of accelerating though.

Subbarao said he expects “some impact” on inflation after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee raised excise tax on fuel on Feb. 26 to mobilize revenue and cut the budget deficit.

Mukherjee imposed a one-rupee levy on every liter of gasoline and diesel while increasing the excise tax on almost all products to 10 percent from 8 percent.

The yield on India’s 10-year government bond touched 8.00 percent this week, the highest in 17 months, on concern inflation will erode the value of the debt’s returns. The yield has gained 36 basis points since Feb. 1.

“The increase in oil prices will push the inflation rate to double digits by March,” said Rahul Bajoria, an economist at Barclays Capital in Singapore.

Companies such as Steel Authority of India Ltd., the nation’s second-largest producer, and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., India’s biggest carmaker, raised prices after the taxes were raised.

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