Things are looking up.

Retailers posted healthy same-store sales for the month of March. IPOs are starting to flood the market -- and pop higher. The outlook is generally upbeat for the earnings season that begins next week.

Oh, and there's also a healthy dose of buyout chatter.

  • Will Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) buy Foursquare?
  • Will Lenovo buy Palm (Nasdaq: PALM)?

The answers will probably be a resounding "heck no" on both fronts, but the whispers of consolidation do seem to have wings when it comes to US Airways (NYSE: LCC) potentially teaming up with UAL (Nasdaq: UAUA).

You also have the case of CKE Restaurants (NYSE: CKR). Shareholders of the fast-food specialist behind the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's chains figured that the company would be bought out in a $928 million deal. Well, there's now a second private equity firm stepping up with a higher bid.

When even burger chains are finding gentlemen callers lining up on the porch, the appetite for equities has to be pretty strong.

Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.

  • Shares of Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) traded above the $1 mark for the first time in more than a month on Thursday. The satellite-radio operator also announced several programming notes, including a limited-run station featuring country legend Alan Jackson and the arrival of MSNBC.
  • Monsanto (NYSE: MON) posted quarterly sales growth, on the strength of its seeds business. Unfortunately, it also warned that it's unlikely to meet its goal of doubling its 2007 gross profits by 2012.

Until next week, I remain,

Rick Munarriz