NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Financials fuel the fire! Pretty decent rally on Monday, as a gaggle of key money companies posted better-than-expected quarterly results. I think the market is really now moving away from Iraq -- for a time at least -- and focusing more on fundamentals.

We struggled to stay up 100 points on the Dow, but in the last half-hour of trading stocks took off, so at the end, there was no question! Dow climbed 147.69 to 8,351.10. NAZ up 26.10 to 1,384.95 -- both up nearly 2 percent. Not bad at all!

Hey, watch me, Daniel Arap Moi (A bad dude! The real l'etat c'est Moi!), I mean Andy Serwer on CNN's "American Morning with Paula Zahn," and Headline News. Read Loose Change to find out what about the next big thing. Here's what is up:

STOCKYARD Citigroup, Fannie Mae, and Bank of America all did better than expected, at least on the profit side. (On the revenue side, a bit light.) Interestingly, Citi and Fannie were up 2.9 percent and 3.6 percent respectively, while BoA was up much less (0.9 percent). Bank of America has been such a strong performer -- $49 to $72 over the past 24 months! -- that exceeding expectations is expected! Got that?...

Smooth Art Hogan is saying that there is mucho bad news priced into stocks, so if companies just match expectations, stocks could move up. Then again Ralphie Acampora is calling for a rally, so man the lifeboats!...

Hey, I love that AMR now has its bankruptcy financing lined up, in the event that it has to file. Imagine if every company did that?...

They put off the trial of Tyco's ex-CFO Mark Swartz until July. Trial is in New Hampshire so that everyone can enjoy Lake Winnipesaukee (confession: I had to check the spelling!...

So WorldCom says it's coming out of Chappie 11. Going to be called, get this, MCI! (Makes sense!) Headquarters leaving Mississippi, going to be in Ashburn, VA. Debt will be pared from $41 billion to like $3 billion. How? Well bondholders are being paid cents on the dollar. Shareholders, by the way, receive nothing!...

Philip Morris only has to put up $6 billion, not $12 billion. Whew! For a minute there, I thought it was going to be real money!...

Hey, I don't know anything about this Eagles Farewell Tour? What's that all about?

IF (By Rudyard Serwer) What if everything you learned between 1980 and 2000 was wrong? If buy and hold doesn't work? If market timing does? If interest rates go up? If big government is good? If government grows, and doesn't shrink, and a Republican is behind it? If absolute returns are all that matter? If bonds beat stocks four years in a row? If stocks don't provide a 10 percent annual average total return, they provide a 5 percent annual average total return? If you have to work for 10 more years than you thought? If you lost your job? What if everything you learned was wrong?...

Sorry to say I'm not crazy about Lucinda Williams' new album. Sounds like she's trying too hard, or else she doesn't have any good stuff left in her....

AOL SCREWED, I MEAN SUED Gee, really? And Milberg Weiss is the lead attorney! This one is on behalf of the University of California -- which says it lost $450 million -- and something called Amalgamated Bank's Longview Collective Investment Fund. Suit also names Case, Levin, Parsons, Pittman, and Turner. Says company used "tricks, contrivances and bogus transactions" to pump up stock. Read Carol Loomis's piece on the Bertelsmann deal in the latest issue. What is that, lawsuit #39? Stock doesn't move on this news anymore! AOL Time Warner is the parent company of CNN/Money...

TAX TIDBITS In Florida, post offices will open later and some postal employees will be in parking lots accepting returns with a smile. Hey, in NYC, a P.O. is open 24 hours and they don't accept nothin' with a smile. Also, today is tax freedom day in Pennsylvania. By the end of the day, the average Pennsylvania taxpayer will have worked 104 days, enough to pay all federal, state, and local taxes for 2003. Pennsylvania is one of 13 states where taxpayers have had to work longer this year than last year to pay all taxes...Down? Listen to "Freedom" by George Michael!

The big new thing is those yo-yo balls! Wow! Wish I owned stock in them!...

Hey, Roger McNamee says: "The Flying Other Brothers will be in San Francisco and Lake Tahoe this coming weekend...with G.E. Smith on lead guitar!"

"Fuel for all those hippie dippy protestors: Why wasn't it called Operation Iraqi Liberation...instead of Operation Iraqi Freedom? Perhaps due to the unfortunate acronym that would have resulted -- O.I.L. -- Robert, Va"...

Headline of the day: "Saddam's 'love shack' discovered"...

Hey, speaking of Kipling, I did my honors thesis on him. Right there in my alma mater's library if you don't believe me!...

Masters was pretty cool, although it would have been cooler if Mickelson had won!

Andrew Serwer is editor-at-large of Fortune magazine.

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