Today was one of those weak days where you would tell yourself, "this could have been much worse." China tightened its reserve requirements again ahead of its long week off for the Chinese New Year. Greek concerns were back out that its recession might hamper a bailout. University of Michigan sentiment surveys showed a decline versus just a month ago. And the bias is still sour... Yet today's move was not as bad as it could have been. Here were the unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 10,100.66 -43.53 (-0.43%)
S&P 500 1,075.88 -2.59 (-0.24%)
Nasdaq 2,183.53 +6.12 (0.28%)
Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades
Blue Nile, Inc. (NILE) was lower all day as earnings and guidance were a disappointment here. The good news is that this came off the lows of $45.51 today and shares were 'only' down 5.5% at $49.65 late in the trading day.
Garmin Ltd. (GRMN) was given an "add insult to injury" call by Jim Cramer when he added it to his SELL BLOCK on CNBC last night. It was on no new news since November and December. Shares were down almost 2% at $31.80 before the closing bell.
SkillSoft plc (SKIL) was up 11% at $10.84 late in the day after getting a private equity buyout at $10.80. The belief is that it may get a higher price.
Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc. (BWLD) had disappointing earnings with much tied to its costs in the quarter, and this is a company where very few expected this news. The stock was with 1% of a 52-week high yesterday. Shares were down 11% at $43,06 late in the day as traders thought this one was Buffalo Ring Stingers.
Labopharm, Inc. (DDSS) was down big after the company sold 11,764,706 new shares at $1.70 per unit for approximately $20 million. The stock was down 19.9% at $1.61 late in the day.
Leap Wireless (LEAP) was up over 2% at $14.84 late in the day on hopes that MetroPCS (PCS) would make a weekend bid after reports were out that a banker had been hired to evaluate an offer. This talk has been out there before.
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