Today was somewhat tiring -- there was no real direction and the media was competing for any broad stories with meat to them. Selling picked up at the end of the day and broke a three-day run. The US trade deficit came in narrower than expected and oil prices came down another $1.00+ to well under $114 per barrel. While there was more negative news in financial stocks, today's drumming may have been more analyst driven than on other days where large drops were seen. As you will see, bond yields came down sharply today.
Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels: DJIA 11,642.47 (-1.19%) S&P500 1,289.59 (-1.20%) NASDAQ 2.430.61 (-0.38%) 10 YR T-Note 3.918% (-0.08%) Top Analyst Upgrades Top Analyst Downgrades
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) rose on two separate analyst calls. It was started as "Outperform" in news coverage at Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers also reiterated an "Outperform" rating. Shares were up almost 25 at $176.48 in today's final minutes.
Capstone Turbine Corp. (NASDAQ: CPST) managed to rack up gains despite fears over cautious earnings. The company had a single order that accounted for this and racked up another gain to its backlog. Shares were up 7.5% at $2.61 in today's final minutes. Here are the Q&A comments from the conference call.
Today was a mixed day in the news, despite the rally we saw in the equity markets. Some was related to a surge in the dollar causing a relatively small drop in oil prices after hints of the Saudis boosting production. The Labor Department reported that the inflation index, the Consumer Price Index, rose by +0.6% in May, just above the +0.5% economists were looking for. The core-CPI, an ex-food and ex-energy basis, showed only a gain of +0.2% that matched expectations. Too bad that no one can go without energy or food. Perhaps the more shocking number came out of the housing sector where there were reports that May's foreclosure rates were up 48% compared to last year's reading. Below are the unofficial closing bell levels for major index levels:]
Capstone Turbine Corporation (NASDAQ: CPST) was one the more active movers after its earnings, but the real boost came from the realization that its backlog was actually understated and even better than an already strong report. Shares were up in the final minutes today.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Capstone Turbine, Insulet and Teradata were today's noteworthy initiations:
Merriman believes Capstone Turbine (NASDAQ: CPST) is well-positioned for rapid growth as capacity constraints and dependence on subsidies drive the adoption of clean, dependable hydrocarbon-based technologies. Shares were assumed with a Buy rating.
JMP Securities initiated Insulet (NASDAQ: PODD) with an Outperform rating and $29 target and expects increased adoption of the company's OmniPod disposable, tubeless insulin pump.
Pacific Crest initiated Teradata (NYSE: TDC) with an Underperform rating. The firm is a seller of shares given the slowing economy and the company's exposure to larger IT deals.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
Commercial Metals (NYSE: CMC) was initiated at UBS with an Outperform rating and $37 target.
Producer prices rose almost twice as much as forecast in March, reflecting higher fuel and food costs that show more signs of a pickup in inflation. The 1.1% gain followed a 0.3% increase in the prior month. U.S. foreclosure filings jumped 57% and bank repossessions more than doubled in March from a year earlier as adjustable mortgages increased and more owners gave up their homes to lenders. May crude oil even came within one penny of $114 per barrel today.
Below are the unofficial closes for major US index levels:
Wednesday, and maybe even the rest of the week, will probably be dominated by Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), with shares up 0.7% at $20.84 right before the close ahead of its major earnings report.
In sharp contrast to the ten horrifically downtrending stocks I warned against buying in this article, today I feature these 10 solidly uptrending stocks.
It's charts like theirs that make you wonder why you're messing around with any other stocks. Ahhh, if it was only that easy. No matter that all the stocks listed above are making new highs, now the concern is that they may have come too far too fast. In 2008, several of these stocks-the gold plays in particular-have risen nearly 50%. Obviously the oil stocks have also been surging, but how much further can the "black gold" plays really run?
Today was somewhat tiring -- there was no real direction and the media was competing for any broad stories with meat to them. Selling picked up at the end of the day and broke a three-day run. The US trade deficit came in narrower than expected and oil prices came down another $1.00+ to well under $114 per barrel. While there was more negative news in financial stocks, today's drumming may have been more analyst driven than on other days where large drops were seen. As you will see, bond yields came down sharply today.
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In sharp contrast to the ten horrifically downtrending stocks I warned against buying in 
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