Stocks End Quarter With Moderate Advance

Qualifying for government help has been an important variable for certain companies lately. Standard & Poor's on Tuesday reiterated that E*Trade(EFTC) and its bank subsidiary remain on "CreditWatch Developing," ahead of the government's decision on an application originally submitted in December for as much as $800 million in Troubled Asset Relief Program funds.

Earlier in the week, life insurer Lincoln National(LNC) plunged nearly 40% after withdrawing its application for funding guarantees from the U.S. government, saying it believed it didn't qualify under certain provisions of the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program. Lincoln shares were up 4.4% at $6.69 Tuesday.

In bank news, London's Barclays(BCS) is reportedly in exclusive talks to sell its exchange-traded funds business iShares to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners for around 3 billion pounds. Shares of the bank gained 2.9% to $8.50.

Stocks in Europe were largely higher. The FTSE in London and the DAX in Frankfurt rose 4.3% and 2.4%, respectively. Stocks in Asia were mixed. Japan's Nikkei lost 1.5%, but the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 0.9%.

The dollar was slightly weaker against the yen, and stronger vs. the pound and euro. In commodities, oil rose $1.25 to settle at $49.66 a barrel, while gold climbed $7.30 to $925 an ounce.

Longer-dated Treasuries were rising. The 10-year note was adding 9/32 to yield 2.7%, and the 30-year was gaining 30/32, yielding 3.6%.

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