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Today's share performance matched the performance on 70% of the the last century's inauguration days as the stock market headed south. From the wee hours of futures opening stocks sold off, and the selling didn't stop throughout the day. The fallout in the financial market that's taking down banks is not new, but it keeps affecting the various financial sectors and the other non-financial sectors.Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
TOP ANALYST DOWNGRADES
Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) acquired the handheld graphics and multimedia assets from AMD for an upfront payment of $65 million. It should take about $0.02 off its 2009 EPS. Shares were down over 4% at $34.53 right before the close.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) beat earnings expectations but issued guidance that left some with very mixed feelings as there was confusion on the Mentor numbers. Shares were down 1.6% at $56.60 right before the close.
State Street Corp. (NYSE: STT) was supposed to be in a largely immune part of the banking business, but that turned out not to be the case. After the company beat estimates, it guided for flat earnings ahead and its shares plummeted. Shares were down a sharp 57% at $15.63 right before the close.
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) fell ahead of results due after the close. The data and IT-services giant was hit by an anti-trust case in the E.U. over its mainframe operations. Shares were down 3% at $82.40 late in the day.
United Rentals Inc. (NYSE: URI) probably wishes that that the old private equity buyout would have gone through. Shares fell after an earnings warning, and were down over 10% at $6.76 right before the close.
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