Today was one of those days where stocks looked lower early in the morning, traded lower, and stayed there. Despite recovering from triple-digit losses in the DJIA earlier on, we still closed down 65.63 at 8.675.24 on the DJIA. The S&P took a bigger hit by almost 13.00 at a lower level of 931.76. Bond prices rallied and we saw a 9 basis point drop in the 10-Year Treasury to 3.55%.
Here were today's top analyst upgrades, and there were several key downgrades as well.
Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) fell after company issued guidance for earnings in 2009 to come in between $3.55 and $3.70 EPS, down from its previous range of between $3.85 and $3.95 EPS. Shares were down 10% initially but were only down 4.6% to $26.00 at the close.
American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) fell another 5% today and shares closed down at $1.47 after the troubled government subsidiary and public whipping boy reached a settlement to sell two buildings in New York City. One was reported as the corporate headquarters.
Jetblue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU) was hit extra hard after the company announced the sales of some 20 million shares of common stock and an aggregate of $150 million in convertible debentures in two series. Shares were down almost 15% at $4.29 on the day.
TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) was today's biggest winner of break-out stocks after it won a court ruling in Texas in TiVo's patent case against Echostar. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas found that EchoStar's software "workaround" that was meant to get around the TiVo patents was actually still a patent infringement. Shares rose over 50% to $10.70, a multi-year high.
Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) was pounded after the refiner said it would lose roughly -$0.50 EPS due to extended downtime at its Delaware City and McKee refineries. It also announced a proposed sale of some 40 million shares of common stock to raise some $800 million in cash. Shares were down over 17% at $18.40 on the day.
The week in preview: Earnings from Walmart, Macy's, and other retailers
Six top trades for the rest of 2009
Comfort Zone Investing: Buffett buys Burlington
