Stocks Improve for 7th Consecutive Week

Corporate earnings continued to please today with JP Morgan Chase and Intel leading the way.  Traders wanted more, however, and stock futures pointed toward a lower open.  As Chase began to advance in price, other financial stocks followed and soon the broad market was improving.  Today's 55 point advance for the Dow ensured the seventh consecuttive week of upward trading in equity markets.  All U.S. markets will be closed Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Day.