Pros Say: Dow Will Break Thru Ceiling in Second Half

Friday: Plans to create an aggregator "bad bank" are running into hurdles, including questions of where the funding will come from — and whether it's even a good idea. After the news that U.S. GDP fell 3.8 percent, President Obama urged concensus on a stimulus package to halt "continuing disaster"; and following Obama's criticism of giant bonuses to leaders of "bailout" banks, many CEOs declared that Wall Street bonuses would be radically restructured. CNBC heard from experts who said the stimulus proposal needs its own radical restructuring; and the Dow will break through the current range in the third quarter.

Road Map to the Market Rally: The Big "W"

The market seems to be holding its own despite dismal economic numbers, observed Ben Lichtenstein of TradersAudio.com. Everyone is now expecting the worst, and anything short of that is likely to inspire a rally. He charts the market in "a W or an M pattern, depending on the way it's going." (To be clear: It was an "M"; now, it's a "W.")

HON, HD Vets: Stimulus Won't Create Jobs As Is

Solid Republican rejection of the latest stimulus legislation is just the first round in a long process, according to former Honeywell chairman and CEO Lawrence Bossidy.

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Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus said the current shape of the stimulus does nothing to create jobs, which is the crux of the crisis. Sarbanes Oxley was supposed to eliminate future Enrons; what it wound up doing was killing the capital markets: It's like "giving someone an aspirin and poison at the same time," he said.

Tech & Energy Will Lead Us Out of Slough of Despond — in H2

Art Hogan of Jefferies said dismal earnings and poor visibility about 2009 have left the market stuck in a trading range between Dow 8000 and 9000, and it probably won't break through until the second half of the year. The two high-beta sectors that will lead the economy out of the recession are technology and energy.

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