Stocks close lower....

Kind of a subdued day until the last hour.  Buy programs kicked in at about 3:15 pm and ran stocks higher...to where the Dow was up 84 points and the Nasdaq even turned positive.  Then as we moved closer to the close, all those gains were erased as traders took those quick profits.  Basically, the last hour ended up being a wash.  Closing numbers:

Dow -19
Nas -27
S&P -9 to 1155

Banks and oils were the weakest groups.  There were a few stocks that looked good:

IBM was up 0.70 to 182.39
PEET was up 1.69 to 57.42
DLTR was up 1.23 to 77.68
WMT was up 0.95 to 53.70
AMZN was up 3.23 to 224.74

I'll try to post some charts over the weekend.  Have a nice one.

Mastercard and Visa may be worth a look...

Shares of MasterCard (M -1.1%) and Visa (V -0.5%) trade lower with other financials today, even as Deutsche weighs in with Buy ratings for both firms. Analysts say a "worldwide secular shift" to electronic payments will benefit global payments companies, and "noise" over the effect of the Durbin Amendment may be overblown.

Emergency Fund closes...

The Emergency Homeowners Loan Program is returning more than half of the $1B it was funded with as not enough people were approved in time to receive aid. HUD says setting the program up took longer than hoped and eligibility requirements disqualified more than expected. Only in America.

Correction...Stocks are trading on Monday...

The Bond market is closed Monday, but the Stock market is open....sorry about the confusion.

At 1:45 pm...

stocks are lower following the downgrades of Italy and Spain debt.  Prior to that news coming out, we were looking OK, but that seems to have taken the air out of the rally.

Dow -53
Nas -31
S&P -12 to 1152

Banks are getting beaten up.  It appears that Gold and Silver are now tied to the Euro.  If the Euro falls vs. the dollar, Gold and Silver has been falling.

We still have a little over two hours left.  Maybe we can circle the wagons and stage some late gains.

Fitch downgrades Spain and Italy...

Fitch downgrades Spain to AA- with negative outlook from AA+. Fitch also downgrades Italy to A+ with negative outlook from AA- for the usual reasons.

Markets are reacting to this, with the euro giving up 60 pips and the DJIA shedding about 60 points.

Noon Update...

Stocks are mixed following the better than expected jobs report...and the profit taking that ensued by traders.

Dow +49
Nas-14
S&P -1

The Volatility Index (VIX) has come down considerably in the last few days.  It is now at 35.75.  Remember, it got over 46 early Tuesday.  That seemed to be the point where traders reversed the downward trend.  Monday is a holiday, so it would be nice to go into the long weekend with more gains.  Hopefully stocks will drift higher the rest of the day.

Hansen raised by Stifel Nicolaus...

Hansen Natural (HANS +2.9%) gets a boost from positive comments and a price target raise out of Stifel Nicolaus this morning. Stifel says that after just six months in production, Monster Rehab, Hansen's half-tea, half-lemonade combination, has already become a top-5 seller for the company. Additionally, international sales for Q3 are much stronger than previous projections.

Have equities bottomed?

BTIG's Dan Greenhaus thinks the fact the S&P has rallied over 1.75% in each of the last 3 trading days is a positive sign. This has only happened three other times in the post- war era - Oct. '74, Aug. '84, and Aug. '02 - and each instance was at or (in the case of '02) near a market bottom.

Today's Upgrades and Downgrades...

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


Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) Started as Outperform at Baird.
AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR) Started as Buy at Stern Agee.
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD) Raised to Perform at Oppenheimer.
American Water Works Co. (NYSE: AWK) Started as Neutral with $32 target at Credit Suisse.
Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA) Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.
GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) Started as Outperform at Baird.
Harbin Electric, Inc. (NASDAQ: HRBN) Cut to Neutral at Roth Capital.
Invesco Ltd. (NYSE: IVZ) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU) Started as Buy at Stern Agee.
Koninklijke Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG) Cut to Underperform at Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE: LM) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY) Maintained Buy but cut estimates and target at Argus.
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) Cut to Hold at S&P Equity Research.
Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Wolverine Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: WWW) named Value Stock of the Day at Zacks.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Sorry....Just getting back in...

Had CE this morning...

Samsung says Q3 to top consensus as phones boom...

Samsung Electronics said its quarterly profit should top the most bullish market forecasts, with smartphones becoming its main profit engine despite intense competition from bigger rival Apple.

Moody's cuts ratings of UK banks RBS and Lloyds...

The credit rating of two top UK banks were cut due to the likelihood of less state support in a future crisis, as Britain sought to reassure investors its banks were well capitalised and able to cope with a European debt crisis.

Jobs report better than expected...

Sep. Nonfarm Payrolls: +103K vs. consensus of +60K, 0 prior. Unemployment 9.1% in-line with expectation. Avg. hourly earnings +$0.04. to $23.12. Workweek +0.1 hour to 34.3.

Make it 9 triple digit days in a row...

Stocks close at their highs of the day as we get a nice run up in the last hour of trading.  No doubt, the gains were helped by shorts covering their positions ahead of tomorrow morning's weekly jobs report.

Dow +183
Nas +46
S&P +20 to 1164

Banks had a strong day as several statements (Fleckenstein and Geitner) made shorts run for the exit.

Tomorrow is an important day.  It would be nice to continue this rally as we head into a long weekend...and in advance of next weeks earnings releases.

WalMart unveils layaway plan...

Wal-Mart (WMT) unveils its layaway plan - designed to keep up with peers jumping on the layaway bandwagon. A 10% down payment on a total minimum layaway amount of $50 must be made, with items to be paid in full before Dec. 16. Where WMT rakes in money: A $5 non-refundable service fee applies, as well a $10 charge for items cancelled or not picked up or paid for on time.

Birinyi screen of value...

Lazlo Birinyi screens S&P 1500 stocks to uncover a list of 8 stocks trading with a dividend yield higher than its P/E ratio. Though analysts with the firm say the method isn't a "foolproof" way to find undervalued stocks, they do call it an "interesting starting point." Stocks:

RR Donnely RRD
Pitney Bowes PBI
Deluxe Corp. DLX
United Online UNTD
Apollo Investment AINV
US Mobility USMO
Lincoln Educational Services LINC
Prospect Capital PSEC

Geitner's comments helps Banks...

Timothy Geithner’s comments to the Senate Banking Committee that there is “absolutely” no chance that another U.S. financial institution would fail is music to Bank of America (BAC +6%), Morgan Stanley (MS +3.8%) and other bank stocks (XLF +1.4%). “The direct exposure of the U.S. financial system to the countries under the most pressure in Europe is very modest," the Secretary says.

Will Steve Jobs death hurt Apple???

My guess is YES.  Maybe not in the short term...the firm has a great deal of momentum with all of their "cool" products.  However, in the long term, I cannot imagine the company's creativity and ability to predict the future needs of consumers will not suffer. 

The question is "what new product will they come up with next?"  They have had a string of winners starting with the iPod, leading to the iPod touch, the iPhone, and now the iPad.  The iMac (computers) have ridden on the coat-tails of these other products.

Steve Jobs was a rarity.  Those kind of creative minds do not come around too often.

At 1:00 pm...

Stocks are holding on to earlier gains. 

Dow +76
Nas +25
S&P +10

The move is broad as every major group is higher.  My guess is that traders who were short are starting to cover as we move closer to earnings reports which start next week.