NEW YORK (Reuters) - For a moment, stocks looked like they were headed for a long-awaited pullback this week.But that didn't happen. After more signs of a healthier economy, stocks may have room to run higher in the week ahead.

The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 Index (MXP:SPX) registered another week of gains on Friday, its fifth in six weeks, once again defying calls for a reversal in its five-month rally.  Friday also marked the three-year anniversary of the S& P 500's plunge to a 12-year low, a move that was followed by a sharp rally. The S& P 500 still is up 102 percent from that low.

" Everyone's looking for a correction here, which just tells me we're probably going to have another little run up before we get that correction," said Scott Billeaudeau, portfolio manager at Fifth Third Asset Management in Minneapolis.

Much of the optimism has come from signs of further improvement in the U.S. economy. Friday's stronger-than-expected jobs report - the most widely watched U.S. economic indicator - gave the stock market more wind in its sails.

Greece Default Is Official Insurance Payouts Triggered

A group representing dealers in credit default swaps decided Friday that Greek's bond swap constitutes a " credit event" that entitles holders of Greek credit default swaps to compensation.

The " yes" vote by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association triggers roughly $3.2 billion in CDS, which are insurance policies that pay out if a bond issuer defaults. That amount is actually much smaller than many had feared.

The decision was widely expected, and stocks were slightly down after the announcement.

Greece pushed through a bond swap deal on Friday, forcing  bond holders to take a significant " haircut" on the return of their money. The swap was approved by about 84 percent of the holders, and Greece is moving to activate a rule forcing the rest of the bondholders to go along with the deal.

The triggering of that rule, known as the Collective Action Clause, is what prompted the ISDA to decide that Greece has created a " credit event."

“There’s three types of credit events as defined by ISDA,” said Gavan Nolan, Credit Analyst at Markit. “There’s a bankruptcy, a failure to pay and a restructuring.”

“What we’re talking about here with Greece is a restructuring," he told CNBC. " A request is made to the ISDA Determinations Committee—which is the arbiter of whether a credit event has occurred—and they have to agree whether or not it is a credit event.”

Out of the 15 members of the ISDA committee, 80 percent had to agree.

The net volume of CDS on Greece now stands at $3.2 billion, according to the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, which holds data on credit default swap contracts.

“It’s peanuts really compared to the government bond market," said Nolan. " So I think it’s sometimes overplayed as to how important it is.”

monk999      ( Date: 09-Mar-2012 23:54) Posted: juicy peak... shorted it at 12960.  thunderdoor      ( Date: 09-Mar-2012 23:49) Posted: Dow having a sharp upside-down plunge instead, confused. How will sgx react monday? The Edge says down but dow is going up