Wall Street ends higher; Dow up 108 points

Wall Street putting together back to back gains for the first time in a fortnight with optimism on news that the US house of representatives has agreed on a stimulus package of setting the latest housing figure which showed sales in 2007 decline nationally for the first time in over a generation.

The Dow gained a 108-points, S&P 500 up 13 points while the Nasdaq moved higher up 44-points with the Microsoft boosting tax ahead of its earnings.

Other earnings winners includes Qualcomm up 10%, after posting in-line result despite its on doing dispute with Nokia over royalties but a weaker outlook and a miss on earnings saw eBay shares lose 6%. On the big board Lockheed Martin rose 4% after the defence giant boosted its outlook.

AT&T saw a mark slowdown in video and broadband subscribe growth in the fourth quarter, its shares losing 2.5% after its earnings.

In the financials there was a wild riot for Ambac and MBIA with early reports of a bailout for the mortgage insurers sending their shares higher only to give way to double-digit declines when the regulator said the deal will take time.

Volatility in Freddie Mac and Fannie May shares the stimulus plans include April vision to raise limits on the size of the loans that they could produce.