Today was looking like a fairly quiet day with no solid direction, but the green shoots crowd got some actual good news on the jobs front. This was the first report since once in January where the massive army of continuing jobless claims actually fell. We also saw a positive report showing positive CEO Sentiment again for the month of May. Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:Dow 8,750.24 +74.96 (0.86%)
S&P 500 942.46 +10.70 (1.15%)
Nasdaq 1,850.02 +24.10 (1.32%)
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has a new interesting way of getting publicity, without even doing any of the effort or work for it. An AdultVest-backed company called iPorn is announcing an "un-Official After Party" for next week's WWDC. Apple stock was up almost 2% at $143.63 right before the close.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) was unaffected by reports that Angelo Mozilo was charged with insider trading for stock sales from 2006 and beyond. Bank of America Corporation shares were up 4.6% at $11.72 right before the close.
Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) announced a drop of more than 7% in same store sales for May. This is worse than expected, yet shares were only down 1% at $47.95 at the end of the day after having traded as low as $46.25 earlier in the day.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) had a stellar day. This brokerage giant, or bank holding company with no real bank, was upgraded over at Bernstein based upon the outlook ahead.
Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) priced its secondary offering of 40 million shares, and shares gave up almost of their gains for the day. The stock was up 0.15% at $18.43 right before the close, probably on further credibility damage.
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