While the markets were up at the end of the trading day, there would be no other way to describe the day besides boring. The good news is that boring days are needed after periods of major volatility.

Today's news could have easily been dominated by a rise in weekly jobless claims hitting a high not seen since September 2005, with a reading of 407,000. The market was only looking for 365,000 to 375,000. But taking the center stage were Ben Bernanke, Jamie Dimon, and Alan Schwartz all defending the bailout and buyout Bear Stearns Companies (NYSE: BSC) in front of Congressional hearings for a second day. Below are the unofficial closing prices for today's US exchange levels

• DJIA 12,626.03 (+20.20; +0.16%)
• S&P500 1,369.30 (+1.77; +0.13%)
• NASDAQ 2,363.30 (+1.90; +0.08%)
• 10YR-TBond 3.591% (+0.008)
• 52-week lows

Shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) held up better than they could have since shares fell only less than 3% to $24.23. UBS downgraded the networking giant this morning. eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) actually fell into negative territory after the stock got raised to Buy rating from Merrilll Lynch this morning; shares fell about 0.1% to $31.60. See full TOP-10 pre-market analyst calls.

Dendreon (NASDAQ: DNDN) was one of the more interesting biotech stocks today, even if it didn't garner the most volume. The company secured an institutional investor for $47 million at a substantial premium to yesterday's close in a financing that will give it more breathing room while it tries to get Provenge approved. Shares closed up almost 4% at $5.28.

Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) was the disappointment of the day after the CFO gave an interview, although much of this looks already priced in on a weak consumer and weak discretionary spending. Shares closed down over 6% to $52.81.

MEMC Electonics Materials (NYSE: WFR) gave a surprise when it issued an earnings warning this morning, although shares rose considerably as Wall Street is trusting the company that this is from closed facilities from maintenance issues. That's good, because otherwise you could have tried to deduct that the solar materials it supplies was peaking. Shares fell more than 3% to $73.76, although they were down 10% pre-market.

Research-in-Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) was the earnings winner today after the company beat earnings metrics yet again after yesterday's close. Its Blackberry is looking recession proof too. Shares rose almost 6% to $122.58.