Stocks rose, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a 17-month high.

The Senate passed a $17.6 billion jobs bill Wednesday and sent it to President Obama to sign it into law. The measure, which includes tax breaks and funding for highway projects, has been much debated in both houses of Congress over the last few weeks. It is seen as being the first in a series of bills designed to help bring unemployment down from its current level of 9.7%. The Producer Price Index (PPI), a measure of wholesale inflation, fell 0.6% in February for the biggest drop since July of last year after being expected to fall 0.2%, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com. PPI gained 1.4% in January. Stocks rose, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a 17-month high, and commodities rallied as a drop in U.S. producer prices underscored the Federal Reserve’s assessment that inflation is not a threat to low interest rates. IMF expects Indian economy to grow at 8% per annum for FY’11. With growth firmly on track and inflation rising beyond its comfort zone, the Reserve Bank of India should carefully be returning to normal monetary policy, as per chairman of deputy chairman of planning commission, Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Railways have hiked freight rates for steel, iron ore for domestic use, coal and cement. A cyclical upturn is being witnessed in the commercial vehicle space. LNM is in talks to buy a stake in Bhushan Power. L&T has bagged Rs.1000 crore order for ONGC well platforms. GAIL has signed a pact with the ministry on target of transmitting 114.8 mscmd of natural gas from domestic sources and through liquefied natural gas during FY’11. Tata Teleservices, the listed subsidiary of telecom services operator Tata Teleservices, has agreed to sell its telecom towers for an enterprise value of Rs.1318 crore. Dalmia Cements plans to split business into four different units. TCS looks to hire 30,000 employees next year. Idea Cellular has received clean chit from special auditor. NTPC,IOC plan JV for biodiesel, lubes. Nifty March contracts ends the Day up by 34.95 points at a premium of 7.70 points paring OI by 1.2%. Nifty OI PCR at 1.615 compared to 1.564 at the close of last Day. Nifty puts sees addition of 21.73 Lakhs and calls sees paring of 3.13 Lakhs over the Day. Highest OI in Nifty calls seen at 5300 March strike and puts at 5000 March strike. Nifty VIX at % from 20.26 last Day. Long build up seen in TRIVENI, SCI, BIOCON, ORIENTBANK, FINANTECH, CROMPGREAV, LUPIN, STERLINBIO, RECLTD, JINDALSAW, NEYVELILIG, ICICIBANK, SAIL, SUNPHARMA, HDFC &
BEL during the Day. Short build up seen in during the Day in TULIP, HCC, GSPL, MCDOWELL-N, UNITECH, MOSERBAER, KFA, DISHTV & BHARATFORG etc. Long unwinding seen during the day in INDIAINFO, CIPLA, DIVISLAB, HCLTECH, HINDALCO & IDEA etc. FII side saw short covering in Nifty futures, short build up in stock futures and Nifty options was bought during the session.