Analysts with Credit Suisse provided a bit of background on the surge in trading activity, and offered a few reasons that might explain some of the rising interest. The wounded leaders of the financial sector: Citigroup (NYSE: C), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) accounted for roughly one-fourth of all trading activity in the U.S. last month. This is not surprising considering the fact that their extremely low share prices and the large number of shares outstanding after TARP regulations prompted secondary offerings to increase capital. Additional factors have contributed to the heavy turnover as well. Citigroup and Bank of America have begun an exchange offering of convertible stock for common stock which attracted many arbitrageurs who needed to trade the common. [Arbitrageurs are investors who scour the markets and attempt to profit on small price discrepancies that are often created by corporate events, such as stock splits, dividends or mergers.] -The Wall Street Journal

The yen jumped to an eight month high against the greenback today, but trimmed gains after Japan’s finance minister signaled discomfort with the idea that he’s comfortable with the yen’s continued strength. The U.S. dollar tumbled to a low of 88.23 yen in early Tokyo activity Monday. It then rallied to 89.60 yen with little change from late North American activity on Friday. -Marketwatch

Americans hanging onto more than $3.5 trillion in cash are giving money managers increasing confidence that the stock market rally will continue through the end of the year. Although money-market accounts have been reduced by 11 percent this year, investors have cash equal to 73 percent of Standard & Poor’s 500 Index companies’ net assets. At the peak of the bull market in 2007, the measure of buying power was 62 percent. -Bloomberg

President Barack Obama will travel to Denmark this week to support Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Obama will leave sometime later in the week and join his wife, Michelle, in Copenhagen, where they’ll make the pitch to the International Olympic Committee. Obama would be the first U.S. president to take on such a direct role in lobbying for an Olympics event. The International Olympic Committee will be meeting in Copenhagen to decide on a host city for the 2016 Summer Games. Chicago faces strong competition from Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo. -Forbes

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares are on the rise by roughly 1.2 percent in early trading to $184.50. The company stated this morning that downloads from its iTunes applications store have surpassed 2 billion and that they now has more than 85,000 apps available for the iPhone and iPod Touch. -Reuters

Xerox Corp (NYSE: XRX) has conducted a major takeover that the company hopes will give it a bigger foothold in the business services space. Xerox said this morning that it would pay $6.4 billion in cash and stock for Affiliated Computer Services (NYSE: ACS), a large IT and outsourcing firm. -AOL Daily Finance

by Jutia Group