Stocks Start Week With Rally

Even though the nationwide average for gas prices at the pump touched an all-time high of $3.718, according to AAA, retailers were benefiting from the crude reprieve. Dow components Wal-Mart (WMT Quote) and Home Depot (HD Quote) were up 1.5% and 2.4%, respectively, and the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index and the S&P Retail Index ramped up 2.1% and 2.7%.

At the same time, gold futures sank 90 cents to $884.90 an ounce. The U.S. dollar lost its early gains against the euro, finishing down 0.4% to $1.5540. Against the yen, however, the greenback remained higher by 0.8%.

Meanwhile, investors were overlooking plenty of bad news. For instance, JPMorgan Chase (JPM Quote) CEO James Dimon said that the recession has just started, even if the credit crisis appears to be mostly over. Dimon, speaking at a conference, also said there is a one-third chance the contraction is "going to be pretty bad ... closer to the 1982 recession than the very mild recessions we had in 2001 and 1990."

Over in the financial sector, MBIA (MBI Quote) lost $2.41 billion in the first quarter after $3.6 billion in unrealized losses on insured derivatives. Still, the stock took back the bulk of its Friday losses, tacking on 4.5%.

Mortgage insurer PMI (PMI Quote) also swung to a quarterly loss, and Radian (RDN Quote) did the same when excluding unrealized gains on derivatives and hybrid securities. Keeping in those gains, the company booked a profit of $195.6 million. PMI was up 3%, and Radian shares rose 2.2%.