Closing Bell: Market mixed, Palm rating raised, Microsoft to open retail stores, and Pepsico signals earnings growth

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) posted solid earnings, as long as you don't consider the 25% drop in existing store sales. The hip apparel retailer posted earnings of $1.10 EPS vs. $1.00 estimates. Shares were up 11% at $23.03 right before the close.

Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) was lucky as far as a stock is concerned, and very unlucky on a PR front. The crash with nearly 50 fatalities late last night in upstate New York was a Continental Connections flight, although Continental was not actually the operator. The stock was down almost 1% at $13.08 right before the close of trading.

Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) is expected to rise higher as Credit Suisse raised its rating to Outperform and downgraded rival Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) to an underperform rating. Palm shares were down by 0.5% at $8.92 and RIM shares were down 3% at $48.77 right before the close.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is taking a risky strategy with a retail store opening approach, similar to what a man named Steve Jobs did. This is a Hail Mary pass which could go either way. Shares were up 0.05% at $19.27 right before the close.

Pepsico Inc. (NYSE: PEP) met earnings estimates at $0.88 EPS and signaled earnings growth in the mid to high single digits for 2009. Shares were up almost 2% at $52.84 right before the close.