Stocks Continue Rally on Retail Data

Back in analyst calls, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS Quote) was lifted to buy from hold at Citigroup, and teen apparel retailer Hot Topic (HOTT Quote) was upped to outperform at Friedman Billings. RBS shares were up 3.8% on the NYSE, and Hot Topic soared 15.8%.

On the other hand, Cowen & Co. downgraded Acrobat software maker Adobe Systems (ADBE Quote) to neutral from outperform, pushing the stock down 1.3%. UBS slapped a sell sticker on bulldozer maker Caterpillar (CAT Quote), and Motorola (MOT Quote) was cut to underperform at Oppenheimer. Caterpillar and Motorola were each losing ground lately.

Treasury prices were sinking. The 10-year note shed 9/32 in price to yield 4.02%, and the 30-year bond was off 12/32 in price, yielding 4.72%.

Foreign markets were mixed. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong tacked on 0.6%, but the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gave up 0.7% overnight, but In Europe, London's FTSE 100 added 0.4% as Germany's Xetra Dax lost 0.3%, and the Paris Cac was down 0.2%.