Some days you know you have a winner, and some days you know you have a loser. Just like the loss of 473,000 jobs to 9.5% unemployment in June, today started as a losing day and ended up as a losing day. It feels as though the "lagging indicator" aspect of employment may lead us into a new leg-down in the recession. At least there was some bit of good news: bond yields came down. Here were today's closing bell levels:
Dow 8,306.21 -197.85 (-2.33%)
S&P 500 898.88 -24.45 (-2.65%)
Nasdaq 1,798.12 -47.60 (-2.58%)
Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
American International Group (NYSE: AIG) came up with a way to pay Uncle Sam for one day's interest after it agreed to sell 100% of its ownership interests in Inversora Pichincha S.A. and Interdinco S.A. Shares were up over 3.5% at $18.74.
Discovery Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ: DSCO) was today's daily wrongful imprisonment stock for shareholders. The company announced that the FDA set newly defined standards to determine whether or not the company has adequately demonstrated comparability of Surfaxin. In short, it is unlikely to be able to reach approval. Shares were down just over 50% to $0.51 late in the day.
First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) essentially defied logic today. JPMorgan decided to give it the worst call of the whole solar sector call today, and oil was down $2.00 late in the day. Shares were actually up by 0.8% at $156.50 late in the trading session.
TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO) took a beating after a court decided to give EchoStar a stay in the case between the two companies. This may not ultimately get EchoStar off the hook, but it delays the benefits that it was hoping for. TiVo stock was down almost 15% at $9.23 late in the trading session.
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