Despite us being on the heels of the big Russell indexes changing and despite the quarter-end being a day away, this was a boring day. A study showed a small decrease in online job advertisements, but that was the only item on the economic front. Oil traded higher and bond yields came down as traders are voting for more stability the rest of the year there. Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 8,531.19 +92.80 (1.10%)
S&P 500 927.18 +8.28 (0.90%)
Nasdaq 1,843.34 +5.12 (0.28%)
Top Analyst Calls
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A) was a winner today after KBW initiated coverage with an "Outperform" and gave a $107,000 target. The research comments seemed more impressive than the final targets. Shares were up 2.5% at $88,365.00 late in trading session.
Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI) was another winner today. It was one of the bargain bin stocks investors bought after sellers hit it last week upon the Russell rebalance which booted Blockbuster from the Russell indexes.
SLM Corp. (NYSE: SLM) rose after an analyst action. An analyst raised his price target to $16 from $13 based on expected survival. Shares were up almost 10% at $10.15 late in the trading session.
SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) was a huge winner today as the company was among the "re-Russell trade" stocks that investors bought up after last week's selling frenzy due to it being ejected from the Russell indexes. Shares were up 18% at $0.43 late in the trading session.
SolarWinds, Inc. (NYSE: SWI) rose as the recent IPO's quiet period ended. The pool of brokerage research was just about all positive. Shares were up 4% at $15.78 late in the trading day.
State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) received an SEC Wells notice for its State Street Bank and Trust Company subsidiary as part of an ongoing SEC investigation into disclosures and management its active fixed-income strategies during 2007 and prior periods. While shares started much lower this morning, they managed to come back to being up $0.08 at $48.40 late in the trading session. Considering the gap-down this morning, that is a win.
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