Closing Bell: Bull & Bears look equally confused (APP, AXP, HD, MS, PALM, STT)

American Apparel, Inc. (NYSE: APP) posted a $9 million Q1 loss, announced a settlement with its Woody Allen lawsuit for $5 million, and said it may restate results. Shares were down by 11% at $4.86 right before the close.

American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) plans to eliminate somewhere around 4,000 jobs, or 6% of its workforce. This, and the questions about repaying TARP money, had shares down almost 4% at $25.15 shortly before the close because of credit card restrictions placed by Congress in a vote today.

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE: HD) came through with earnings at $0.35 EPS vs. $0.29 estimates, although there was a bit of a sell-the-news reaction since it was up so much yesterday. Shares were up on the first report, but the stock was down almost 5% at $24.75 right ahead of the close.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) wants to repay its $10 billion TARP balance, and the reception here seems positive. Shares were up 4% at $29.42 right ahead of the close.

Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) has announced that its new Palm Pre touchscreen smartphone is now set for a release date of June 6 on the Sprint network. Again, after a huge run we saw a sell-the-news reaction. Shares were down by about 2.5% at $11.75 on the news.

State Street Corp. (NYSE: STT) soared much higher than an its $39.00 per share offering of 51.3 million shares to raise some $2 billion in order to pay off TARP assistance. The stock was up almost 5% at $43.90 shortly ahead of the close.