Closing Bell: When it feels like a coin toss (AA, WAG, COST, GS, C, GE)


Today was treated as a "labor data anomaly" as the jobless claims finally broke under 600,000 for the week. The problem was that it was a holiday week and the continuing claims grew much larger. Warren Buffet gunning for a second stimulus package probably didn't help matters, nor did lower commodity prices based on economic fears. Here are the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,183.17 +4.76 (0.06%)
S&P 500 882.68 +3.12 (0.35%)
Nasdaq 1,752.55 +5.38 (0.31%)

Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Alcoa Inc.
(NYSE: AA) looked like it was going to be a help, but it ended up heading south despite the 'less-bad" earnings report on narrower than expected losses. Shares were down 2.75% at $9.20 ahead of the close.

Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) was a disappointment considering that it hiked its quarterly dividend by some 22% to $0.1375 per quarter. Shares were down 1% at $29.43 late in the session.

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) said that its June same store sales were down 6%, a sign that the upscale big box retailer is not in recovery yet. Shares were only down 1% at $45.50 late in the session.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) rose after BofA/Merrill raised the brokerage giant to a "Buy" on hopes that it would beat earnings expectations and see high returns on equity. Shares were up almost 4% at $143.80 before the close.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) announced a rather large management share-up. It is getting a new CFO, but not a new CEO as many are expecting will ultimately happen. Shares were up more than 2% at $2.68 late in the session.

General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) had a filing for its GE Capital to raise some $12 billion in a new note sale. Traders seemed to give it a pass as shares were up 1.3% at $10.85 late in the trading day.
Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA-89.2312,801.23
NASDAQ-23.352,903.88
S&P 500-9.311,342.64

Last updated: February 10, 2012: 05:00 PM

Hot Stocks

General Electric

18.875-0.255(-1.33)

Alcoa

10.29-0.35(-3.29)

Apple Inc

493.42+0.25(+0.05)

Google Inc 'A'

605.91-5.55(-0.91)

Bank of America

8.07-0.11(-1.34)

Wal-Mart Stores

61.90-0.06(-0.10)

Exxon Mobil Corp

83.80-1.08(-1.27)

Ford

12.44-0.25(-1.97)

Citigroup

32.925-0.735(-2.18)

IBM

192.42-0.71(-0.37)

Yahoo

16.14+0.14(+0.88)

Starbucks

48.82-0.38(-0.77)

Microsoft

30.495-0.275(-0.89)

Home Depot

45.33+0.06(+0.13)

DailyFinance Headlines

Benzinga Headlines

TheFlyOnTheWall.com Headlines

BioHealth Investor Headlines

WalletPop Headlines

DailyFinance BlackBerry App

My Portfolios

Track your stocks here!

Find out why more people track their portfolios on AOL Money & Finance then anywhere else.

BloggingStocks Partners

More from AOL Money & Finance

BioHealth Investor Headlines

Page Loaded in 1328911210348 ms.