YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: A better-than-expected earnings preannouncement from Wells Fargo sent the financial sector surging 15.5%, which induced buying in the broader market and helped the Dow move back above 8,000.

Wells Fargo (WFC 19.61, +4.72) isn't scheduled to officially announce first quarter earnings results until April 22, but came out this morning to let investors know it expects to earn $0.55 per share for the quarter. Analysts had forecast earnings of just $0.24 per share. Wells Fargo also indicated its combined net charge-offs are down sequentially and that the legacy Wachovia business is operating well.

Wells Fargo's announcement seemed to contradict a handful of pessimistic comments and reports, and helped restore investor confidence in bank stocks. Diversified banks advanced 28.9%, while the KBW Banking Index climbed 20.1%.

Leadership from banks and other financial stocks helped bring about broad-based buying in each of the major indices. In turn, all three major indices were able to log their best single session percentage gain in two weeks and close at session highs. Each index advanced more than 3%. Small- and mid-cap stocks fared even better; the Russell 2000 Small-Cap Index spiked 5.9%, while the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index tacked on 5.5%.

There weren't any market-moving earnings announcements released today. However, plenty of retailers were out reporting same-store sales results for March. Though the numbers generally showed declines, they weren't necessarily as bad as many had expected. That, combined with a positive bias in the broader market, helped retailers climb 4.6%.

Wal-Mart (WMT 50.66, -1.95) was a laggard, though. The company posted positive March same-store sales, but the increase wasn't as strong as expected. Still, Wal-Mart hasn't reported a negative monthly same-store sales figure since May 2007.

Wal-Mart's string of positive same-store sales results largely comes from strapped consumers looking for bargains amid stiff macro headwinds, including rising job losses. Initial jobless claims for the week ending April 4 totaled 654,000, which is down 20,000 from the week before, but generally in-line with the 660,000 initial claims that were expected. Continuing claims climbed to a new record high of 5.80 million.

A strong bias in the equity markets didn't really carry over into commodities trading. Crude oil futures closed pit trading with oil priced 5.2% higher at $51.97 per barrel, but natural gas contracts closed pit trading roughly 0.6% lower at $3.60 each. Gold finished at $883.00 per ounce, down 0.3%. Silver closed pit trading at $12.33 per ounce, just below the unchanged mark.

As a reminder, stock and bond markets are closed Friday for holiday observance.DJ30 +246.27 NASDAQ +61.88 NQ100 +3.0% R2K +5.9% SP400 +5.5% SP500 +31.40 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2290/2.15 bln/455 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2741/1.84 bln/366