Closing Bell: A great end to horrible October

Posted Oct 31st 2008 4:09PM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Electronic Arts (ERTS), Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI)

Today was a busy economic day with data, but the selling in Asia as a "sell the news" reaction from the first Japan rate cut in seven years should have ruled the roost. Employment costs came in at 0.7% as expected, and personal income and spending showed no surprises. The markets also ignored a weak Chicago purchasing managers reading. This was a horrible month, but the DJIA ended up roughly 1,000 points higher from the close last Friday.

Below are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,325.01 +144.32 (1.57%)
S&P 500 968.75 +14.66 (1.54%)
Nasdaq 1,720.95 +22.43 (1.32%)
52-WEEK LOWS
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (NYSE: BNI) was after an SEC Filing noted that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought an additional 825,000 shares of common stock and now holds a beneficial ownership of 64,610,418 shares of common stock. Shares were up 2.7% at $88.93 right before the close today.

DivX Inc. (NASDAQ: DIVX) traded higher by over 6% after the online media player company beat its earnings expectations. The company also raised its fiscal non-GAAP earnings range to $0.58 to $0.60 from a prior range of $0.52 to $0.58, but lowered its revenue guidance because of product expansion and slower spending. Shares were up over 25% at $6.99 right before the close.

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) fell after the video game giant posted earnings. The problem is that its earnings are being cut for fiscal March-2009, and the company announced it will risk a major PR gaff by laying off 6% of its workforce to save $50 million in annual savings. Shares were down over 16% at $23.13 right before the close.

McAfee Inc. (NYSE: MFE) posted $0.53 EPS vs. $0.49 estimates in a report which was better than its key competitors in data security as subscription revenue and earnings kept its quarter better. Shares were up 18% at $32.80 right before the close.

Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) posted a loss slightly worse than estimates, but this is just more salt on an open wound for a company that cannot get its act together. Sun continues to be hampered by charges and lack of direction. Shares were down over 12% at $4.63 right before the close.

Tags: BNI, Burlington Northern, divx, ea games, EaGames, inthenews, mcafee