Closing Bell: Another day of excuses to sell (BA, GS, MS, MGM, ORCL, SPEX

Posted Jun 24th 2009 4:00PM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: Boeing Co (BA), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Oracle Corp (ORCL)

The FOMC decision to keep rates at near-zero and risk inflation ahead did little to spur any excitement from equity traders. Or maybe that was just an excuse to sell after Warren Buffett said there are no green shoots out there.

This was on the heels of a solid durable goods number and on the heels of weak new home sales. It seems that news is just an excuse to pare down positions now in case we get that solid pullback so many traders were hoping for. Here are today's closing bell levels:

Dow 8,299.86 -23.05 (-0.28%)
S&P 500 900.92 +5.82 (0.65%)
Nasdaq 1,792.34 +27.42 (1.55%)

Top 10 Analyst Calls

The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) looked like a high-speed engine flame-out for the second day in a row. Reports showed credibility gaps in management at the aerospace giant now that it has had another delay because of problems with the 787 Dreamliner. We also saw an analyst downgrade this morning. Shares were down almost 6% at $41.25 in the final minutes of the trading day.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) were both endorsed by star fund manager Ken Heebner today as beneficiaries of the brokerage firm consolidation. As the market was tame, those shares were up 0.5% each at $141.90 and $27.54, respectively, in the final minutes of the trading day.

MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) was a huge winner in casino stocks as the 'going concern' is history on its financial statements. Shares were up 13% at $6.61 late in the day.

Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) shares fell yesterday after beating estimates, as some results were disappointing, but solid guidance ran the stock. Shares were up 7% at $21.27 in the final minutes of the trading day.

Spherix Inc. (NASDAQ: SPEX) was the biohealth daily double today after the company announced positive preliminary results from its Phase 2 clinical trial of Naturlose for the treatment and management of Type 2 diabetes. Shares were up 84% at $1.87 late in the trading day.

Tags: MGM, SPEX