Evening Buzz: Has the market bottomed out? Will the recession end this summer?

Cate Vojdik
AC360° Writer

The markets clearly liked what they saw today.

A better-than-expected housing market report sent the Dow soaring 214 points. The S&P added nearly 30, and the Nasdaq rose 44. Today’s gains erased all - or nearly all - of the year’s losses for the major indexes. Chief Business Correspondent Ali Velshi will explain what the rally and housing numbers mean for the economy overall—and for your bottom line.

Police in Chicago are asking for the public’s help in solving a brutal murder over the weekend. A 15-year-old high school student was found dead from a gunshot to the head; his body had been severely beaten and burned. Alex Arellano is the 34th Chicago public school student to be killed this year. Police say the 10th grader had no ties to gangs and no criminal record. Tonight, David Mattingly reports on the wave of killings claiming so many young lives in Chicago.

We’ll also have the reaction to the verdict in a Pennsylvania hate-crime trial. Three white teenagers were accused of beating to death an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. One pleaded guilty to a civil rights violation before the trial and testified that his friends had used racial slurs during the attack. On Friday, an all-white jury acquitted the two teens in the death. Latino rights proponents are enraged—and the small town where it all happened is struggling to deal with the media spotlight. Tonight Soledad O’Brien digs deeper into racial tensions in the town.

We’re also keeping a close eye on swine flu. The virus is still spreading, but there are some signs the worst may be over – at least for now. In Mexico, many public spaces are reopening. And in New York, a Catholic school that closed after an outbreak also reopened today. Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta joins us again with the latest.

And, a former co-worker of a suspected serial killer is speaking out. He worked alongside John Floyd Thomas, Jr., a 72-year-old California man arrested last week. Police believe he may have killed dozens of women during two killing sprees decades ago. Looking back, were there any missed clues to his alleged double life? We’ll take a close look tonight.

All that coming up.. see you at 10 p.m. eastern.
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