Today was another one of those days where you were never really sure of the bias or tone of the market as it started strong, gave all the gains back, tried to rally, and then gave back all the gains and then some. There were too many moving parts not acting in unison. The FOMC noted that it was going keep buying securities and there was no hint of higher rates, yet oil inventories fell again and sent commodity prices higher.
Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 8,424.91 -49.94 (-0.59%)
S&P 500 903.81 -4.32 (-0.48%)
Nasdaq 1,727.28 -7.26 (-0.42%)
Top Analyst Calls
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) is selling $13.5 billion worth of securities via stock sales after completing its ATM stock sales. Shares actually held up despite the dilution, and the stock was still up 1% at $11.38 shortly before the close.
Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) was trading down over 8% at $10.71 late in the day. This was on the heels of a downgrade at Needham, yet we also noticed that as of yesterday this stock was up 1,000% from its lows.
YRC Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCW) filed a shelf registration showing that the trucking giant plans to raise up to $200 million via the sale of any combination of common stock, preferred stock, and warrants. Shares were down 9% at $2.89 shortly before the close.
The United States Oil (NYSE: USO) ETF was a winner as traders are looking for the reflation trade today after crude hit $62.00 per barrel. We saw lower inventories again on top of a recovering economy. Shares were up over 3.5% at $34.00 ahead of the market close.
Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) met its earnings expectations after yesterday's close. CEO Mark Hurd was a bit mum on seeing any solid recovery in tech, and that was not as "less-bad" as we had heard from other technology giants. Shares were down close to 5% at $34.77 before the close.
SolarWinds Inc. (NYSE: SWI) rose on its debut day after its IPO this morning. The software company, not alternative energy, was trading at $14.60 late in the trading day, above its premium $12.50 pricing.
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