Closing Bell: Bulls ran too hard early on, had to snooze

Posted Apr 7th 2008 4:45PM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: Apple Inc (AAPL), Dell (DELL), Ford Motor (F), Novartis AG ADS (NVS), Washington Mutual (WM)

Traders came in this morning wanting to carry on from last week's stability on word that Washington Mutual, Inc. (NYSE: WM) was perhaps going to get a private equity bailout. At least a lifeline was the hope. But throughout the day shares slid from a 100 point gain to close mostly flat on the day as the market decided it had better get ready to go into earnings season yet again for Q1 2008 earnings reports from major companies. Below are the unofficial closes for US index levels:

DJIA 12,612.43 (+3.01; +0.02%)
NASDAQ 2,364.83 (-6.15; -0.26%)
S&P500 1,372.53 (+2.13; +0.16%)
10YR-TBond 3.556% (+0.075)
Full 52-Week Lows
Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls

Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) up today after a price target upgrade by Thomas Weisel Partners today. Shares closed up almost 2% at $155.89.

Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) continued its slide from last week as Wall Street is losing its patience. Shares closed down another 1.5% at $19.23.

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) closed up 3.7% at $6.78 today after Barron's noted that shares of the US auto maker could double over the next year.

Novartis AG (ADR) (NYSE: NVS) was down on news they are to spend $39 billion for a majority stake in Alcon, a U.S. eye-care company from food and beverage company, Nestle. Shares closed down 4% at $50.00.

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) was up on an upgrade by AmTech Research. After the slide this one has seen, any up day will be a welcome sign for investors. Shares are up over 2% to $19.23.

Washington Mutual, Inc. (NYSE: WM) was up on speculation that private-equity TPG could give them a $5 billion liquidity boost. Shares closed up 29% at $13.15 today.

Westlake Chemical Corporation (NYSE: WLK) was up on a UBS upgrade to Buy from Neutral. Shares are up 11% at $17.67 on the upgrade.

Tags: AAPL, amtech research, AmtechResearch, DELL, F, NVDA, NVS, private equity, PrivateEquity, ubs upgrade, UbsUpgrade, WLK