Another Mixed Day for Stocks....

The early earnings posted by JP Morgan held the Dow and S&P back today.  Also, weakness in Europe overnight caused a selloff in Gold and Silver.  However, Technology posted decent gains.

Dow -40
Nas +15
S&P -3 to 1203

Leading the market higher:

Apple +6.24 to 408.43
Google +1049 to 558.99
Visa +1.43 to 92.60
Mastercard +8.00 to 335.99
Netflix +3.39 to 117.01
Walter Energy +8.45 to 75.22

JP Morgan closed down 1.60 to 31.60

I thought these were already gone...

The payphone business is shrinking rapidly, but that hasn't stopped Pacific Telemanagement Services, a little-known company that agreed to buy nearly all Verizon's (VZ) remaining 50,000 pay phones. PTS will operate nearly 100,000 payphones out of ~425,000 still in existence in the U.S.; Verizon now owns just 4,000, down from a peak of 500,000.

Blackberry service back up and running...

On a conference call, Research In Motion (RIMM) co-CEO Mike Lazaridis tells reporters the company has fully restored BlackBerry service.

This blackout could deal a fatal blow to RIMM.

Banks pulling market lower...

Early market action is driven by weakness in financials (XLF -3.1%), which has wiped out yesterday's big gains in the sector. Big banks are taking their cue from JPMorgan Chase (JPM -4.7%), which reported lower profits and said it will trim headcount at its investment bank by 1,000 jobs. Bank of America (BAC -4.1%) and Citigroup (C -5.3%) report results next week.

Today's Upgrades and Downgrades...

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

Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Bank of New York-Mellon (NYSE: BK) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Cell Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTIC) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) was Underperform and has been dropped from coverage by BofA/ML as fundamentals are not driving the shares.
ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) Reiterated Buy with $85 target on Focus List at Argus.
Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG) reiterated strong buy as Momentum stock of the day at Zacks.
Gold Fields Limited (NYSE: GFI) named as Value stock of the day at Zacks.
Hatteras Financial Corporation (NYSE: HTS) Cut to Neutral at Macquarie.
The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
NetEase.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTES) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX) Started as Buy at Ladenburg Thalmann.
Rackspace Hosting, Inc (NYSE: RAX) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs, but reportedly Downgraded to hold at a firm called Benchmark.

Wedbush likes eBay...

Wedbush pounds the table for eBay (EBAY) following its X.commerce announcements. The firm calls eBay "the best investment in the growth of mobile payments," thanks to the breadth of PayPal's solutions. Wedbush also expects PayPal to help drive "significant multiple expansion" for eBay.

eBay is currently down 0.56 to 32.19

At 10:00 am...

Stocks are lower after a weak night in Europe and the JP Morgan Earnings release.

Dow -101
Nas -9
S&P -12 to 1194

Banks, Oils and Commodities are selling off, while Technology holds up well.

JP Morgan earnings...

JPMorgan (JPM): Q3 EPS of $1.02 beats by $0.08. Revenue of $24.4B beats by $700M.

After popping higher on the headline number beat, JPMorgan (JPM) turns south as closer analysis reveals $0.29 of profit was debt valuation adjustment. Without that, JPM would have reported earnings of just $0.73, a large miss.

JP Morgan is currently down 1.59 to 31.62

IRS questions Google tax avoidance...

A source tells Bloomberg that the IRS is auditing Google (GOOG) over how the company avoids taxes by using offshore subsidiaries, and has requested information on its $1.65B acquisition of YouTube. The focus of the agency may be tied to how Google values software rights and IP it licenses abroard. A company spokesman calls the inquiry "routine."

Good Morning....

Stocks open lower this morning on a weak earnings report from financial bellweather, JP Morgan.

The Dow is coming off its highest close since August 31, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq have risen in six of the past seven sessions.

The Dow briefly moved into positive territory for 2011 Wednesday before a mild late-session selloff.

Stock News:

Akamai Technologies (AKAM) is a stock to watch in today's trading, having soared after hours on reports that Google (GOOG) was interested in acquiring it - a rumor that several sources now say is a non-starter.

We'll also watch shares of AOL (AOL) on reports that CEO Tim Armstrong has been pitching top shareholders on the idea of selling the company to Yahoo (YHOO).

Service troubles continue to plague BlackBerry users, though Research In Motion (RIM) says the situation has improved as it continues to work to solve the problem.

Apple (AAPL) is in the news on two fronts this morning: the Wall Street Journal reports the company is in talks with Hollywood Studios over the idea of letting iTunes movie buyers watch streaming versions, and an Australian court has granted Apple's request for a temporary ban on sales of Samsung's Galaxy tablet in that country.

Peabody Energy (BTU) and ArcelorMittal (MT) have won China's approval for their $4.7 billion takeover of Australia's Macarthur Coal, which could move those stocks today.  Chinese approval was needed because Macarthur controls a substantial portion of the Chinese metallurgical coal market.

Google (GOOG) is scheduled to come out with their earnings after this afternoon's closing bell.