Closing Bell: When Bulls Hear the Flush (GLD, FXI, AA, CSCO, ANF, YUM, GS, NBG, TM)

To show how poor commodities did, gold via the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD) was down 4.26% at $104.08 right before the 4:00 closing bell. And the iShares FTSE/Xinhua Chimna 25 index showed more international mayhem with a 4.4% drop at $38.11 right before the close. And in metals, Alcoa, Inc. (AA) was down 4.3% at $12.90 before the closing bell.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) posted solid earnings last night and John Chambers gave a resoundingly positive forecast and business outlook. Cisco was up 0.75% at $23.25 right before the close, which is a win considering how far stocks were down.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF) saw a remarkably better than expected sale store sales data with an 8% rise when analysts were looking for a drop of 8%. Shares were up more than 4/5% at $33.40 right before the closing bell.

Yum! Brands (YUM) was not one of the earnings winners as income was up on cost cuts as revenues were flat. Shares were down 5.5% at $33.40 right before the closing bell.

Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) was down after a director noted that the new Volcker Rule might hit about 10% of that firms' revenues. Shares were down 3.7% at $151.34 right before the closing bell.

The National Bank of Greece (NBG) was down sharply on more fears that Greece and other PIIGS nations were facing a run on their sovereign debt because of their dire economic positions. The ADR was down 9.2% at $4.04 right before the close.

The woes of Toyota (TM) continued... this time on Prius brake issues, which were not a part of the prior recalls. Shares were down 1.8% at $72.14 late in the day.