Ted Cruz declares, Walmart's gun problem and childhood ID theft

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (^IXIC) are both extending the gains they made at the end of last week. The Street seems to have liked what it saw from the National Association of Realtors' existing home sales report. The annual rate popped 1.2% to 4.88 million units in February compared to 4.82 million in January.

Here are the other stories Yahoo Finance is keeping an eye on today.

President Cruz?
Senator Ted Cruz (R - TX) became the first major party candidate to officially announce he is running for president in 2016. He used a tweet last night to do so before delivering a sort of “entrance” speech at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA.

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Walmart and guns
Walmart (WMT) is in a legal fight with Wall Street's famous Trinity Church over their practice of selling firearms.The church owns Walmart stock and wants a shareholder vote requiring the retailer to review the policy. Walmart argues that would constitute improper meddling in business affairs. The church previously sued Walmart over their practice of selling high capacity ammunition magazines following the shooting tragedy in Newtown, CT.

Childhood identity theft
Yahoo’s personal finance correspondent Mandi Woodruff took a closer look at a startling trend: identity theft of children. She says it’s the “Holy Grail” for such criminals. Typically children don’t have any credit to their name until they are 18, providing years of opportunity to use their identity before anyone notices. Shockingly, oftentimes it’s the parents of the children doing who break the law and take on their kids’ identity.