Today was another one of those days that if you did not look up at the closing bell or at the numbers in the last hour of the day where there was no clear feeling of a direction. By 2 O'clock we had switched directions six times today. Weak housing data and more job erosion than expected failed to define any trends. And the US Treasury planning more than $150 billion in auctions next week has failed to make any impression either. Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 7,957.06 +70.49 (0.89%)
S&P 500 851.92 +8.37 (0.99%)
Nasdaq 1,652.21 +6.09 (0.37%)
Top Analyst Calls
Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) rose after earnings came in above expectations. The company's guidance was light, but Wall Street just about always deems the company's guidance as being very conservative. Shares were up 3% at $125.30 shortly before the close.
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) was the other tech winner on better than expected earnings. The guidance was lower than last year but it was better than expectations. This rallied on the valuations being deemed cheap, and shares were up over 13% at $16.78 shortly before the close.
Jetblue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU) said that it was one of the last profitable airlines after posting earnings of $0.08 EPS rather than the $0.03 estimate. Jetblue shares were up 1.4% at $5.66 shortly before the close.
General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) is acting like a European family factory business as it appears to be idling many manufacturing plants over the summer because of poor demand and high inventories. Shares of GM were down 4% at $1.62 shortly before the close.
VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW) beat earnings last night, but it gave revenue guidance that was roughly 10% light as it would be flat or lower than Q2 of 2008. Analysts also abandoned the stock with many downgrades today. Shares were down almost 20% at $26.14 shortly before the close.
United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE: UPS) missed earnings with a report of $0.52 EPS vs. $0.56 estimates and lowered forward targets. 'Brown' also said that a recovery is possible toward the end of 2009 but likely not until 2010. Shares were down over 3% at $53.00 shortly before the close.
EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) is indicated lower, partly because of VMware and partly on its own. The storage leader met earnings of $0.16 EPS but revenues were light. Shares were down 5% at $12.04 shortly before the close.
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