Market flies into the close...

The market shoots higher on reports that European Officials are working on a plan to help solve the European debt crisis.  Toward the close just about every group joined the party.

Dow +272
Nas +33
S&P +26

Oils and Banks had a big afternoon rally, and tech, which was down most of the day, closed positive.  Not sure what to take out of this, but the rally looks like a short covering rally more than anything else.

Tomorrow's action will be key.

At 3:00 pm...

Stocks holding on to gains....

Dow +200
Nas +8
S&P +16 to 1153

Strange day so far...

Today's leading stocks...

Here are a few winners:

Autozone (AZO) +2.40 to 324.10
Panera (PNRA) +1.42 to 112.51
IBM +1.49 to 170.85
Peet's Coffee (PEET) +1.10 to 55.23
Whole Foods (WFM) +1.32 to 69.52
Caterpillar (CAT) +1.28 to 75.18
Hansen Natural (HANS) +1.01 to 88.79

At 1:00 pm....

Stocks still mixed, with the Dow leading the way...

Dow +94
Nas -18
S&P +4

Gold and silver still down, but holding up.

At 11:45 am....

Dow +172
Nas +13
S&P +14

Looks like traders are moving into Dow stocks. 

IBM +3.00 to 172.30
JNJ +1.00 to 62.60
UTX +1.75 to 70.67
CAT +1.26 to 75.10

JNJ gets FDA approval...

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is trading higher this morning after the FDA put its stamp of approval over the weekend for using company's blockbuster drug Remicade on pediatric patients with ulcerative colitis.

JNJ is currently up 0.72 to 62.31

IBM carrying the Dow higher...

IBM is currently up 2.28 to 171.59 on no news.

The rest of the Dow stocks are hardly moving, yet the Dow is up 45.

Someone is scooping up IBM shares.

Just as I thought...

First Solar is now down 2.38 to 67.90

It had opened up over 3 points to 73.49 on the upgrade mentioned earlier.

This stock does not look good.

Buffett announces repurchase program...

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) announces a share repurchase program, planning to reduce its cash holdings to no less than $20B. The company will pay no price higher than a 10% premium over the then-current book value of the shares.

Of course this does not mean the HAVE TO buy any shares...it's just a show of confidence by Mr. Buffett.

Gold and Silver down again...

We are getting more selling of Gold and Silver. 

As of now:

GLD is down 5.52 to 154.40

SLV is down 2.44 to 27.55

Strange open....

Markets are mixed this morning as the Dow rallies as Nasdaq stocks sell off.

Dow +88
Nas -8
S&P +3

My screen is about half green and half red.  More in a few minutes.

Amazon inks deal with Fox...

Amazon (AMZN) has inked a licensing agreement with Fox (NWS) to stream the latter's movies and TV shows through its Prime Video service. The Fox deal follows similar agreements made with CBS and NBCUniversal, and lifts the size of Amazon's streaming library to 11K titles, as it continues its efforts to build a legit rival to Netflix (NFLX).

Today's Upgrades and Downgrades...

These are some of this Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen having an impact from Wall Street research.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Alkermes plc (NASDAQ: ALKS) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
AmSurg Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSG) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) Maintained Neutral but raised estimates at Janney.
Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Raised to Hold at Maxim Group.
Great Plains Energy Incorporated (NYSE: GXP) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) Started as Buy with $130 target at Argus.
Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRE) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Raised to Buy at Merriman.
Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: OXY) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Sara Lee Corporation (NYSE: SLE) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

First Solar gets an upgrade...

First Solar (FSLR) looks poised for a higher open, after Maxim Group upgrades shares to Hold from Sell as a value play and Lazard Capital says the stock's recent selloff is overdone. Lazard expects First Solar to close on the two remaining Department of Energy loan projects and to find buyers for all three projects.

I love this.  Maxim first puts a "Sell" on the company, now, it tries to call a bottom.  I don't buy it.

FSLR closed at 70.24 on Friday. Keep an eye on that price.  We may short the stock if it goes back below that... 

Netflix signs deal with Dreamworks...

Netflix Inc. (NFLX). The company has won a deal to pipe Dreamworks Animation (DWA) movies starting in 2013, the first time a major Hollywood studio has chosen Internet streaming over traditional pay TV, The New York Times reported on Sunday. Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg told the newspaper the deal, worth $30 million per picture to Dreamworks over a number of years, was "game-changing" and represented a bet that viewers would soon no longer make distinctions between content streamed on the Internet or through cable.

They have to wait until 2013?  That's an eternity in this market.  Netflix might be at $10 a share by then.

Groupon Officer leaves for Google...

Google Inc. (GOOG). Groupon's COO is leaving to join Google five months after joining the company. Georgiadis will take the job currently held by Dennis Woodside at Google. Google said that Woodside will now oversee the integration of Motorola Mobility Holdings, which Google announced plans to acquire for $12.5 billion in August and which is currently awaiting regulatory approval.

Wait a second...I thought Groupon was getting ready to go IPO.  This makes no sense that a high ranking officer would leave before that payday.

(a personal aside: I think Groupon is garbage!!!)

Boeing delivers Dreamliner...

Boeing (BA). The company’s long-awaited dream machine became a commercial reality on Sunday when the lightweight plastic-composites 787 Dreamliner was formally delivered to its first Japanese customer. Boeing says the revolutionary carbon fiber design will hand 20 percent fuel savings to airlines struggling to avoid a new recession, and give passengers a more comfortable ride with better cabin air and large electronically dimmable windows.

Bank of America trying to shed mortgage unit...

Bank of America Corp. (BAC). The bank is in talks to sell its correspondent mortgage lending unit to a division of Fortress Investment Group LLC, the WSJ reported on Friday.

Separately, a Bank of America Corp shareholder sued the bank on Friday for what he said was a failure to disclose it potentially owes more than $10 billion to American International Group Inc (AIG) in connection with mortgage-backed securities.

Eastman Kodak borrows against its credit line...

Shares Eastman Kodak (EK) fall 14% premarket after the firm announces it borrowed $160M against its credit line for "general corporate purposes."


That doesn't sound good...sounds like a desperate company.  Take a look at EK's chart:

Verizon refuses to take Apple's side...

Verizon Wireless has taken a legal stand against Apple's request to prohibit the sale of some Samsung Electronics models in the United States. "The requested injunction of certain Samsung products will harm Verizon Wireless and U.S. consumers," Verizon said in a court filing dated Sept. 23.

Good Morning....

Well....a non-eventful weekend in Europe and US Futures are higher.  I guess Art Cashin was wrong about the "crash" scenario he predicted on Friday.

At 8:45 am, Dow Futures are up over 100 points.  Of course, the futures really have no correlation to what really happens when the market opens.