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Daniel Goodman / Business Insider
There was lots of news out of America's banking sector today.
First the scoreboard:
Dow: 13,551, +127.5, +0.9 percent

S&P 500: 1,454, +14.7, +1.0 percent

NASDAQ: 3,101, +36.9,+1.2 percent
And now the top stories:
  • Without a doubt, the big story of the day was the surprise resignation of Vikram Pandit, Citigroup's CEO.  "Given the progress we have made in the last few years, I have concluded that now is the right time for someone else to take the helm at Citigroup," wrote Pandit in a statement. This comes a day after the bank announced strong Q3 earnings.  Pandit is being replaced by Michael Corbat, head of the Middle East, Europe and Africa. Shares of Citi rallied.

  • Fox Business Network's Charlie Gasparino and CNBC's Jim Cramer think Pandit was pushed out. While many have praised Pandit for leading the bank out of the financial crisis, many have also blamed him for fumbling on the recent brokerage joint venture deal Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

  • Citi's news took the spotlight away from investment banking behemoth Goldman Sachs, which reported a massive beat on quarterly earnings and revenues. 

  • Inflation as measured by the consumer price index was a bit hotter than expected.  In September, CPI climbed by 0.6 percent.  Economists were expecting a 0.5 percent increase.

  • Industrial production jumped 0.4 percent, beating expectations of a 0.2 percent increase.  However, this was offset by the fact that last month's growth number was revised down to -1.4 percent from -1.2 percent.

  • The NAHB housing market confidence index continued its upward trajectory, climbing to 41 in October.  This is a six year high.  Deutsche Bank's Joe LaVorgna noted that this index leads housing starts by six months.  Should this relationship continue, housing starts should double by early 2013.

  • In other major market moving news, reports surfaced that Spain was getting closer to asking for a bailout, a move that many see as a big step in reversing the eurozone's debt crisis.  The Spanish stock market surged 3.1 percent today.

  • After the closing bell, IBM, Intel, and railroad giant CSX announce quarterly earnings. Follow the announcements at BusinessInsider.com.