Stocks open higher, extend gains for 4th day

Reports that Citigroup Inc.'s chairman Richard Parsons said the bank doesn't need additional government support after receiving three rounds of emergency funding helped lift financial stocks.

The reports came a day after Bank of America Corp.'s chief executive Ken Lewis said his bank was profitable in January and February, extending a streak of optimism about financial shares that began on Tuesday when Citigroup said it was having its best quarter since 2007.

The three-day rally that ensued has lifted the Dow Jones industrials nearly 10 percent.

The market has been quick to embrace the encouraging signs about the financial system after weeks of unrelenting selling spurred on by concerns that the government's efforts to break a freeze in lending weren't working.

A government report Friday showing that the U.S. trade gap narrowed in January also helped buoy the market.

The Commerce Department said the trade imbalance dropped to $36 billion in the first month of the year, a 9.7 percent decline from December and the lowest level since October 2002. The improvement reflects a drop in demand for crude oil imports and other foreign goods.

Stocks have also been lifted this week by surprisingly positive reports from companies across a wide range of industries. General Motors Corp. said Thursday it wouldn't need the latest installment of government bailout money, and General Electric Co.'s credit rating cut on the same day wasn't as bad as some had feared.

Analysts caution, however, that the rally could be short-lived.

"We are going to remain cautious because the slightest bit of bad news could turn this thing around," said Joe Arnold, investment adviser at Dawson Wealth Management.

In the first half-hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 34.72, or 0.5 percent, to 7,204.78. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 3.13, or 0.4 percent, to 753.87, while the Nasdaq composite index slipped 0.40, or 0.03 percent, to 1,425.70.