Rally pushes stocks higher to end year's first positive month

Despite poor consumer confidence readings and lackluster data from the Chicago Purchasing Managers, stocks jumped back from yesterday's big sell-off, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbing 87 points, or 1.2 percent, to 7,609. The bad news for investors: The markets had a another negative quarter. But. on the bright side, March was a positive month for the broad index readings. Finally.

Financial stocks, including Citigroup (C), JP Morgan Chase (JPM) and American Express (AXP), performed well, as did Alcoa (AA). New General Motors (GM) CEO Fritz Henderson said bankruptcy has become "more probable" for the automaker, pushing its shares to the biggest loss among Dow component stocks.