Today was one of those strange days where we were weak all day, and the buy programs came on strong in the last 45 minutes of the day. Instead of being down over 100 points on the DJIA for much of the day, the market's unofficial close was up. Here are the unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 8,764.49 +1.36 (0.02%)
S&P 500 939.14 -0.95 (-0.10%)
Nasdaq 1,842.40 -7.02 (-0.38%)
Top 10 Analyst Calls
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) was the big analyst battleground stock of the day. There was an analyst duel that created split directions in opinion and bias for the day. Shares were down about 1% at $440.00 right before the close.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) so far looks like a win at the Worldwide Developers Conference with cheaper products and more souped-up products from iPhones to Leopard to MacBooks. But pricing concerns and profit taking had shares down 1.5% at $162.50 shortly before the close.
SLM Corp. (NYSE: SLM) rose sharply after Jim Cramer called it a double by noting that the company will not be killed in the retooling of the education loans. Shares were up 20% at $7.99 shortly before the close.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) managed to get back to positive by 0.6% at $20.00 after being down most of the day. Today marked the official entrance for the DJIA index.
McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD) was a disappointment as same stores sales growth appears to moderating on the domestic front, despite continued gains internationally. Shares were down 1.7% at $58.85.
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
