According to data released Wednesday by First Republic Bank, luxury home values rose in the area in the fourth quarter of 2011.

The Dow Industrials crossed the 13K level for a brief time yesterday but slipped back as the session progressed. That, of course, led many bears to suggest the markets are poised to decline because of the lack of confirmation at the level we haven't seen since May 2008.

Links to yesterday's stories.

Major Economic Releases

In an attempt to make the city run more like a business, the Economic Development and Strategies Committee Tuesday invited five noted regional economists to a roundtable discussion aimed at developing a business plan for the city of San Diego.

Roche Holding AG’s pursuit of Illumina Inc. is putting companies from Life Technologies Corp. to Genomic Health Inc. in play as health-care providers turn to DNA to tailor treatments for cancer and inherited diseases.

An early rally faded on Tuesday as the major stock market indexes failed to fold multi-year highs.

The recent series of fourth-quarter earnings reports from some of the nation's largest retailers provide information far beyond the ringing of cash registers and the movement of goods.

Qualcomm Inc. announced its fifth-generation Gobi embedded data connectivity reference platform for mobile devices, and Realty Income Corp announced its board of directors has elected Michael McKee as its new non-executive chairman, according to company announcements, SEC filings and Bloomberg News.

Marshall Edwards Inc. (Nasdaq: MSHL), an oncology company focused on the clinical development of novel therapeutics targeting cancer metabolism, has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a rights offering to existing stockholders to purchase up to $8 million of its common stock.

The march toward the Dow reaching and surpassing 13K continues. Ever so quietly the markets continue to climb to levels that haven't been seen for years. The Dow was up 45 points on Friday to 12,950 and is up 6.0 percent so far in 2012. The Nasdaq Composite is actually up 13.3 percent so far this year and the S&P 500 has added 8.2 percent in a little more than six weeks.

Major Economic Releases

Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures rose as China’s central bank cut reserve requirements for lenders to support growth and euro-area finance ministers gathered to decide whether to bail out Greece for a second time.

Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Stocks rose for a fourth day and metals rallied after China’s central bank cut reserve requirements for lenders. The euro and Italian bonds gained as European leaders prepared to discuss a Greek rescue.

Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Oil rose to a nine-month high in New York after Iran said it halted some crude exports and investors bet that fuel demand will increase as Europe moves closer to bailing out Greece.

An Iranian semiofficial news agency says Tehran is considering extending an oil embargo on France and Britain to other European countries.

An investor conference this week in New York focused on an industry with deep roots and great potential in San Diego County: biotechnology and associated life sciences.

When Paula Symons joined the U.S. workforce in 1972, typewriters in her office clacked nonstop, people answered the telephones and the hot new technology revolutionizing communication was the fax machine.

Leap Wireless International Inc. fell after Collins Stewart LLC cut its rating on the pay-as-you- go wireless provider, citing increased competition and little chance of a sale to AT&T Inc.

Silvergate Bank reported a net income of $3,084,000 in 2011, its highest annual earnings in its 24-year history.