Despite a cautious report from home builders and despite a low volume day, today marked a clear win for the S&P 5000 and for the DJIA. The S&P broke through 1,100 and the DJIA broke through 11,000. We also had two mergers this morning, and while small they are signs that companies are willing to merge once more.

Here were today's closing bell levels:

Dow 10,090.76 +94.85 (0.95%)
S&P 500 1,097.52 +9.84 (0.90%)
Nasdaq 2,175.83 +19.03 (0.88%)

Top 10 Analyst Calls
Top Day Trader Alerts
Top Stock Rumors

Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) closed at $59.27. AMGN is scheduled to report Q3 EPS on October 21. AMGN's Dmab PDUFA is expected on October 19th. AMGN November option implied volatility is at 35, January is at 34; verses its six-month average of 37, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

CBOE streetTracks Gold Shares (NYYSE: GLD) is recently down 13c to $104.13 in pre-open trading. Gold is recently up 0.84% to $1063 according to Bloomberg. GLD option implied volatility is at 23, below a level of 59 from October 2008 and above a level of 17 from July and near a level of 22 from a month ago, according to IVolatility.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Biotechs are fascinating. They have such great promise, yet very few of them actually turn those promises into money. Cures for all types of cancers always seem imminent with promising (there's that word again) results from mice or small control groups. Phase I testing is completed and all kinds of good stuff seems possible. Then something usually happens. Usually not very good things.

Most of the time, it's discovered that what works in mice doesn't work in men (or women). Or that the group was too small for meaningful data and when a larger group is studied, the efficacy isn't there. Or as soon as there's a bounce in the stock price, much more stock is issued and dilution occurs.

After the closing bell rang yesterday, Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) announced a second-quarter profit that increased 40% compared to a year ago. The company earned $1.29 per share compared to 84 cents per share a year ago. Not only did the pharmaceutical firm top its previous-year results, but it also outpaced the Street's estimated earnings of $1.16 per share.

Quarterly revenue dropped to $3.71 billion from $3.76 billion a year ago, but AMGN still topped the consensus revenue estimate of $3.58 billion. Total product sales for AMGN increased 1% when taking the impact of foreign exchange out of the equation. Looking ahead, AMGN forecast full-year adjusted earnings between $4.80 and $4.95 per share, far better than its earlier forecast of $4.55 to $4.75 per share and the Street's expected $4.57 per share.

U.S. stock futures advanced Monday morning, ahead of yet another week full of corporate reports, with some heavyweights already reporting this morning. Investors will be looking to see if results continue to top projections on average. Meanwhile, investors will digest some of Bernanke's remarks as they await more housing data due out after the market opens.

[Update 9:00 a.m.: Futures turned direction following several disappointing earnings reports this morning.]

Markets have rallied the past two weeks alongside earnings season. This week, over 140 companies of the S&P 500 are due to report. This morning it is Aetna (NYSE: AET), Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN), Honeywell International (NYSE: HON) and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ). Analysts are raising U.S. profit estimates for the first time since credit markets froze two years ago, with the S&P 500 earnings estimates now at $74.55 a share next year, up from $72.54 in May, indicating a potential 26 percent increase in the S&P 500.

Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) closed Wednesday at $59.50. AMGN shares rallied 13% on July 8 after announcing that a pivotal, Phase 3, head-to-head trial evaluating denosumab versus Zometa in the treatment of bone metastases in 2,049 patients with advanced breast cancer met its primary and secondary endpoints and demonstrated superior efficacy compared to Zometa. AMGN is scheduled to report Q2 EPS on July 27. AMGN July option implied volatility is at 32, August is at 36, below its 26-week average of 42, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

ISE Sentiment Index (ISEE) closed at 109 on 7/8/09. ISEE 10-day moving average is 119.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

A late day rally based on imbalance orders and on the Treasury's PPIP winners made a wishy-washy day even that more confusing. The market started out with a slight upside bid, but it never could find its footing. This is probably due to continued earnings jitters ahead of earnings season.

Continued oil inventory data and continued worries about regulating the commodities markets were based around how much speculators can really control.

Here were the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,184.68 +21.08 (0.26%)
S&P 500 880.29 -0.74 (-0.08%)
Nasdaq 1,749.09 +2.92 (0.17%)

Top Upgrades and Downgrades

Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN - option chain) shares are up big today after the company announced its experimental bone drug, denosumab, was superior to Novartis' (NYSE: NVS) Zometa in preventing complications related to the spread of cancer to bones in a Phase 3 trial. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on AMGN.

AMGN opened this morning at $60.25. So far today the stock has hit a low of $59.85 and a high of $60.95. As of 11:05, AMGN is trading at $60.46 up $8.23 (15.8%). The chart for AMGN looks neutral and S&P gives AMGN a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

Bit by bit, the IPO market is picking up steam. And, the latest deal hit the markets today: Medidata (NASDAQ: MDSO).

So far, the shares are up 19% $16.70 (the IPO priced at $14, which was above its $11-$13 price range).

Founded about ten years ago, Medidata develops web-based software for clinical trials management. Obviously, it's a big market opportunity.

Keep in mind that a drug costs more than $1 billion to develop. Oh, and the process can easily go beyond a decade. In other words, it's important to streamline the process.

The green shoots are getting harder to keep pumping up as it seems that Wall Street is starting to demand some visible improvements rather than the continued notion of just "less-bad" data. The weak manufacturing data today makes it look like the factories are taking a European summer vacation.

The good news is that producer inflation has not yet started working itself into the system, based on PPI data. The housing starts looked unbelievably better than estimates, but that was due to apartment projects rather than single-family activity.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

DJIA
S&P500
NASDAQ

Top Analyst Calls

Today was a negative market from the start of trading, and the economic data just confirmed the selling, as hunting for green shoots looked more like hunting for four-leaf clovers. It seems that those analysts and economists saying that the market has risen too far and too fast are getting some more ears than in recent weeks.

The housing data showed a dip after two months of rising data, and the New York Empire Manufacturing data came in weaker than expected. Even the Iran turmoil after the election failed to rally oil. Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,613.04 -186.22 (-2.12%)
S&P 500 923.81 -22.40 (-2.37%)
Nasdaq 1,816.38 -42.42 (-2.28%)

Top 10 Analyst Calls

eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) closed at $14.29. EBAY is scheduled to report Q1 EPS after the market close today. EBAY May option implied volatility of 56 is below its 26-week average of 61, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) closed at $46.09. AMGN Q1 EPS are expected on April 24. AMGN's Denosumab for treatment/prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis and for bone loss in prostrate or breast cancer patients on hormone ablation therapy has a FDA action date of October 19. AMGN May and July option implied volatility of 44 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

When a $7 a share biotechnology company like Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) rockets 200% to over $20 a share in one day, like it did yesterday after reporting successful Phase 3 trials of its prostate cancer drug, investors get interested in any biotech stock under $10.

But before investing in these speculative companies, you should have a clear understanding of how this niche operates. Marketing plays an important role in order for the companies to raise capital, therefore if you are interested in betting on a company's future, you should consider the risk factors and odds of success.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says if you need money for anything important in the near future, get it out of the stock market.

Fall back. Fall back to basic principles. What do people have to do whether they want to do it or not? What do governments have to pay for whether they want something or not? What must be used whether you like it or not?

That's where we are right now in the helter-skelter pell-mell race to take all stocks to single digits as the notion of a worldwide global depression sinks in.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) Q4 profit rose on higher prices, and its forecast matched expectations.
• Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) Q4 earnings grew on cost cutting but revenue remained flat.
• Black & Decker Corp. (NYSE: BDK) shares tanked after the dismal Q4 report, and it announced job cuts.
• Carpenter Technology Corp. (NYSE: CRS) Q2 numbers resulted in a downgrade from one analyst.
• ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) reported a Q4 loss due to writedowns from recent acquisitions.
• DuPont (NYSE: DD) swung to a bigger-than-expected Q4 loss and its revenue fell as well.
• Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) swung to a Q4 loss on acquisition costs but reaffirmed its guidance.