Closing Bell: Dow dips as a hard day turns with help from The White House; C, GE, RIMM, INTU

Posted Feb 20th 2009 4:01PM by Douglas McIntyre
Filed under: Citigroup Inc. (C), Research in Motion (RIMM), Intuit Inc (INTU)

Today felt like you were hearing the robot from "Lost in Space" saying "Warning! Danger!" as too many stocks to count followed the markets under key support levels. It really did feel that way as no one wanted to head into the weekend owning anything tied to financial stocks in case nationalization occurred. Mid-afternoon, the White House said that it preferred for the banking system to stay private. Low and stable CPI doesn't matter when things are headed to hell in a hand basket. The good news is that an end of day bounce erased many of the intraday losses.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 7,365.67 -100.28 (-1.34%)
S&P 500 770.05 -8.89 (-1.14%)
Nasdaq 1,441.23 -1.59 (-0.11%)

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades

If you think there is not fear of nationalization, look no further than Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) and Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C). These stocks were both gutted despite comments from the White House that the banking system will stay private.

General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) was also down on more fears than on actual news. The fears put the "AAA" rating at risk, as well as raised concern about its long-term guidance, its dividend, and more.

Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) was also down sharply today, again on fears. The fears were that the subscriber numbers are not going to live up to plans and that it will take down earnings.

Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) was a strange winner today. Yesterday's earnings still beat expectations on an adjusted basis despite a slide. It seems everyone still wants the tax software giant. One thing is for sure, it will get to sell many new tax code updates for 20009 to 2012. Shares were up before the close.

Tags: c, featured, ge, lost in space, LostInSpace, rimm, whitehouse

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

2-21-2009 @ 8:30PM

jamespwoodard@aol.com said...

When will our great leader endorse aid for the poor 75-80 year old retired person whose retirement was placed in good stocks- banks, GM,GE, etc? The safe investments. Probably tough for a 75-80 year old to start over again. Any thoughts??

2-22-2009 @ 12:55PM

klo said...

Stop Gambling, as a gambler you know you took a risk and now you have to sleep in your bed of thorns. The stock market is not a conservative way of making money or saving...its just like going to Vegas only worse. You hope others are doing things in your best interest. Atleast in Vegas you have some control over your bets. I am sorry you are 75 or 80 but you made choices like the rest of us and I feel no more sorry for you than for anyone else in this world regardless of age, religious affiliation, sex, and where geographically they stand in the world. If you are starving I feel sorry for you but stop expecting others to get you out. Just do it, its up to you and each one of us on how we decide to help each other out but in the beginning it starts with just you. We all starve and die the same, so stop being the mouse who gives up, find your rock and begin to methodically get out. Yes, you can!