Closing Bell: The great jobs set-up for bulls and bears (C, HMY, FSLR, HON, JAVA, ORCL, ZUMZ)

Posted Sep 3rd 2009 4:00PM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: Citigroup Inc. (C), Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Oracle Corp (ORCL), Honeywell Intl (HON)

Trading volume and news activity were both fairly impressive when you consider just how many traders and investors have headed for the hills or for the beach ahead of the Labor Day weekend. This morning's weak jobless claims did little to offer any great hope for Friday's unemployment and payrolls data. But less-bad retail data kept some positive sentiment alive. This was another one of those days where the overall bull or bear was a mystery figure until the close.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,343.47 +62.80 (0.68%)
S&P 500 1,003.16 +8.41 (0.85%)
Nasdaq 1,983.20 +16.13 (0.82%)

Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades
Top Day Trader Alerts

Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) is now formally approved by holders in its actions that will formalize the share conversions, but it may now also pursue a reverse stock split. Shares were up 4% at $4.74 late in the day.

Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMY) was up today as more and more are calling for $1,000 gold, but this was despite a JPMorgan downgrade. Harmony was up over 7% at $10.82 late in the day.

First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) announced that it named a new CEO, who came over from Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) to replace their founding CEO (still Chairman though). First Solar shares were up 2% at $120.75 late in the trading day.

Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) took a hit on reports that European Union decided to probe the Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) acquisition. Silly E.U. members don't realize that Sun can't do what it needs to alone with much profitability. Shares were only down 2% at $9.13 late in the day as most traders think the U.E. will figure out the math.

Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) emulated exactly what is strong in retail... less negative same store sales even at -12.1%, yet the specialty sports retailer caught three different analyst upgrades. Shares were up 18% at $14.40 late in the day.

Tags: FSLR, HMY, ZUMZ