Ouch...we didn't want that kind of close...

Well, instead of making a comeback, stocks sold off hard in the last hour to close at the lows of the day:

Dow -276
Nas 52
S&P -31

Blame more political uncertainty in Europe yet again.  Even with today's performance, October was a good one for stocks.  Let's hope we have seen the lows for the year.

Stocks reporting after the bell today...

Here are a few that we follow, reporting tonight after the close:

Avalon Bay (AVB)
Herbalife (HLF)
Allstate (ALL)
Anadarko Petroleum (APC)

There are some gainers...

Here are a few stocks that are bucking the trend today:

Polypore Int'l (PPO) +1.05 to 53.65
Dollar Tree (DLTR) +1.59 to 80.46
Apple (AAPL) +2.07 to 407.04
Family Dollar (FDO) +1.07 to 59.09
Perrigo (PRGO) +1.06 to 91.00
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) +2.32 to 438.85
Hansen Natural (HANS) +3.02 to 89.74

At 2:40 pm...

More of the same.  Only groups moving higher are Utilities and REIT's...in other words traders are moving into the high dividend payers.

Dow -165
Nas -31
S&P -18

At 1:00 pm...

Stocks having a rough day.

Dow -181
Nas -33
S&P -19

I don't think it is as bad as it looks.  I think we still have a chance to rally this afternoon.

Apple selling out of iPhone 4S...

Apple (AAPL) is outperforming after R.W. Baird says its checks show Best Buy (BBY) is sold out of the iPhone 4S at "the vast majority" of locations. In addition, UBS is joining in on speculation that China Telecom (CHA), which added 9M subscribers in Q3, will soon offer the iPhone for its EV-DO 3G network.

Wells Fargo and Bank of America rethink $5 Debit Card Fee...

Wells Fargo (WFC) cancels a proposed $3 debit-card fee, following a bigger-than-expected backlash from consumers over the charges big banks tried to tag consumers with after the Durbin Amendment limited debit card swipe fees. Waiting in the wings: BofA (BAC) rumored to be mulling over its own unpopular $5 monthly fee.

Oppenheimer likes Cisco...

Oppenheimer is making a bullish call on Cisco (CSCO), claiming its checks suggest  the company will meet FQ1 estimates (results due next Wednesday) and "build momentum" for FQ2. Meanwhile, RBC is upgrading rival Juniper (JNPR) to Outperform, echoing Morgan Keegan's call that new products will drive growth.

Cisco's chart is not looking to bad these days:

At 10:30 am...

Stocks are selling off.  Looks like traders decided to sell the futures last night, and so far that is carrying over to today's action.  Something tells me that we may get some buying as the day wears on.  Let's see what happens.

Right now:

Dow -148
Nas -33
S&P -17 to 1267

Today's Upgrades and Downgrades...

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

Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.

AMERIGROUP Corporation (NYSE: AGP) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Eni SpA (NYSE: E) Raised to Buy at S&P.

JB Hunt Transport Services Inc. (NASDAQ: JBHT) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.

Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) Raised to Outperform at RBC.

The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.

News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA) Started as Neutral at UBS.

RPC, Inc. (NYSE: RES) Raised to Buy at Canaccord Genuity.

Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY) Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.

Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Cut to Equal-weight at Global Equities Research.

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee; named value stock of the day at Zacks.

Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc. (NYSE: SKT) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.

TMS International Corp. (NYSE: TMS) Started as Outperform with $11 target at Credit Suisse.

Vodafone Group Plc (NYSE: VOD) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: WPI) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Weyerhaeuser Co. (NYSE: WY) Raised to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.

Some decent news from Netflix...

Netflix Inc. (NFLX). The company said it has extended its license agreement with ABC Television Group, a division of Walt Disney Co (DIS), to continue to stream TV shows over the Internet. With the extension of the existing license agreement, Netflix will also add new TV show episodes from ABC Studios, Disney Channel and the ABC Family to its existing library, it said in a statement.

Loew's Corp. misses earnings...

Loews Corp. (L). The company posted third-quarter earnings below analysts' expectations, hurt by higher catastrophe losses and lower revenue at its biggest holding CNA Financial (CNA). Net income attributable to Loews rose to $162 million, or 40 cents per share, from $36 million, or 9 cents per share, a year ago.


L is currently down 0.94 to 40.37

Stocks open lower...

Stocks are opening  lower on creeping doubts about the European debt crisis solution.


Wall Street is on track to post some impressive October numbers as today is the month's final trading day. 

At this point, the Dow is poised to post its best monthly point gain on record and its best monthly percentage gain since January 1987.

The S&P 500 is on track for its second best monthly gain ever, trailing only October 1974.

Update on our Stars 20 Portfolio....

It has been a pretty decent October for stocks, Our Stars 20 Portfolio is up 12.22% since October 1.

Top Performers:

Wellcare (WCG) +30.04%
Under Armour (UA) +29.94%
Panera Bread (PNRA) +28.88%
Biogen Idec (BIIB) +27.45%
Deckers (DECK) +26.30%
Lulumon (LULU) +19.00%

Other Gainers:

Starbucks (SBUX) +13.97%
Nike (NKE) +13.14%
Whole Foods (WFM) +12.77%
Chipotle (CMG) +12.69%
Visa (V) +10.94%
Ulta Salon & Cosmetics (ULTA) +8.52%
McDonalds (MCD) +6.23%
Apple (AAPL) +6.20%
Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN) +6.04%
IBM (IBM) +4.14%
Dominion Resources (D) +1.18%
Amazon.com (AMZN) +0.50%

Just two Losers:

Cerner (CERN) -4.99%
Perrigo (PRGO -7.38%

Stocks close mixed...

Stocks closed a wild week with a quiet ending, as the Dow eked out a gain to cap its fifth straight winning week. The day started on a down note, as soaring Italian bond yields reminded that the eurozone debt crisis is hardly over. The euro gave back a bit of yesterday’s gains, and Treasurys recouped some of their big drop. NYSE losers outnumbered gainers seven to six.

Oils, medical, and gaming stocks led the way.

Dow +22 to 12231
Nas -1 to 2737
S&P unch at 1285

Have a great chilly weekend!!!  I'll try to post some charts if I get the chance.

This is too funny...

An ironic footnote to the SEC's punishment of FINRA over document-altering: The current head of the SEC - Mary Schapiro - led FINRA at the time of the alleged transgressions. A SEC spokesperson says Schapiro wasn't involved in the enforcement action.

Time to buy Express Scripts....

Here is discussion on video from the Street.com:

http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/video/11291743/with-or-without-medco-express-scripts-looks-good.html?cm_ven=YAHOOV&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA&s=1#1245644289001

Green Mountain to build plant in Virginia...

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (GMCR), a leader in specialty coffee and coffeemakers, today announced it has chosen Isle of Wight County, Virginia as the future home of a new manufacturing and distribution facility. The Company has agreed to purchase a 330,000 square foot building on a 64 acre parcel of land in Isle of Wight County, Virginia for $15 million, with plans to invest up to $180 million over the initial five years of the facility’s operations. Pending completion of its due diligence and finalization of incentive award agreements with the Commonwealth of Virginia and Isle of Wight County, GMCR expects to consummate the purchase in December 2011.

The Isle of Wight production facility will house coffee roasting, grinding, flavoring and packaging for GMCR’s Specialty Coffee business unit. Within five years, it’s estimated the new facility will have as many as 800 employees. GMCR has actively started to recruit for the new facility with commencement of site fit-up work planned for December 2011, pending final site due diligence.

Meanwhile Green Mountain's chart has been looking like a Red Mountain of late:

Stamps.com breaks higher...

Stamps.com (STMP) skyrockets $6.18 to a new high of $32.11 after reporting Q3 revenue of $25.9M (+20% Y/Y) and EPS of $0.37, beating consensus by $1.4M and $0.08. The company is lifting its 2011 revenue guidance range by $2.5M, to $92.5M-$102.5M, and its EPS range by $0.10, to $1.20-$1.40.

Stamps.com is up 139% YTD, partly thanks to the USPS' rate hikes and cost cuts.

Nu Skin continues its run...

Nu Skin Enterprises (NUS) is edging up to a new high and is on pace for its seventh straight daily gain. All six prior gains have come in above-average volume, which points to professional buying. Nu Skin Enterprises cleared a flat base in July and has since tested its 10-week line a couple of times.

NUS is up 0.64 to 50.22