Today's news was entirely about financial stocks. There is no denying it. We ran a full summary bank by bank showing the needs or lack thereof that Uncle Sam was going to require. But because those have all been read about over and over, today's closing bell piece revolves around some of the other winners that are outside of financial stocks. You would have never thought that 8.9% unemployment could look so good. Here are the unofficial closing bell levels:Dow 8,574.81 +164.96 (1.96%)
S&P 500 929.21 +21.82 (2.40%)
Nasdaq 1,739.00 +22.76 (1.33%)
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades
United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE: UPS) was up 3% to $57.50 late in the day and FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) was up 1.3% to $60.08 late in the day. Normally we might say "who cares?" but this is the last business day before the United States Postal Service hikes its postage rates.
Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) was also a winner today after yesterday's earnings report showed a surge. It appears that "World of Warcraft" has been less economically sensitive than many expected. Shares were up 8% to $11.90 late in the day.
General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) was up 3.4% to $14.44 late in the day. This is simple: it is the non-financial financial stock. Yep.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) was up over 3% to $409.71 on an analyst upgrade. It was Bernstein that noted a $600.00 value for this stock.
McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD) continued its rise in same store sales, and this looks like it was 72 straight months. 6.9% beat estimates and shares were up 3.1% at $55.07 before the close.
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