Today was just a day of selling the news. We had weak retail sales and we had lower than expected PPI data showing no inflation. But after a 5-week straight rally, investors were selling into earnings despite many estimates looking excessively easy to hit. Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 7,918.11 -139.70 (-1.73%)
S&P 500 841.87 -16.86 (-1.96%)
Nasdaq 1,626.40 -26.91 (-1.63%)
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades
Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) traded off after the oil giant was downgraded in a broad oil sector downgrade along with other integrated oil majors like Exxon, Conoco, and BP at Oppenheimer; shares were cut to "Perform" from "Outperform." Shares were down almost 2% at $66.64 very late in the day.
Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) was today's huge winner. The biotech firm said that its big PROVENGE trial for advanced prostate cancer met the targeted endpoints and more data would be shown on April 28. Shares were up some 135% at $17.27 before the close.
Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) rose today on word that President Obama was naming Fannie's CEO Herb Allison to head up the $700 billion TARP program. Shares were up almost 7% at the end of the day on the belief that this means Obama doesn't want to shut down Fannie Mae.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) traded lower despite nearly doubling the expected performance on its estimates. The reason for the drop was because the company sold some $5 billion in a secondary offering at $23.00 per share to help pay back its TARP obligations. Shares were off almost 10% at $118.02 late in the day.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) beat its earnings expectations at $1.26 EPS vs. $1.22 estimates. The company's revenues were light, but there was a 7% impact or so drop due to currencies impacting results versus the US Dollar. It also did not raise or give any new guidance changes. Shares were up only 0.3% at $51.32 late in the day.
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