Stocks closed mixed...

Stocks had a rather tame day ahead of earnings season which started after the bell.  Alcoa (AA) has already reported and it looks like they were in line with expectations.  Shares are down slightly in after hours trading.

Here's how we closed:

Dow -16
Nas +16
S&P +0.65

Tech and Agriculture stocks were the leaders.  Banks and Oils were mixed, Gold and silver were flat.

I knew it was coming....

Facebook has started putting Google ads on their site.  Unfortunately for Facebook, the ads are severely impacting the speed of the site.

Not a good idea.  I'm done with Facebook unless they go back to the simple site they had just a few weeks ago.

U.S. disrupts plot...

U.S. officials have disrupted a plot - tied to Iran - to commit a "significant terrorist attack in the U.S.," reports ABC. The plot included the assassination of the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S. as well as attacks on the Saudi and Israeli embassies. Reuters reports AG Holder saying a suspect is in custody, has confessed, and provided information about Iranian involvement.

At 2:40 pm....

Stocks are sleepwalking thru the day in a very tight range.  That doesn't mean this is how we will close though.  In the last week we have seen some wild movements in the last hour of trading.

Dow -32
Nas +8
S&P -1

Notable movers:

AAPL +10.69 to 399.51
IBM -1.51 to 185.03
MA +4.87 to 330.50
HANS +1.93 to 89.50
CTXS +3.00 to 61.00
CF +6.02 to 146.41

IBM continues to expand....

IBM continues snapping up smaller software companies. Its latest target is Platform Computing, a provider of software for managing large clusters of servers being used for "big data" applications such as analytics and computer modeling. Platform claims over 2K customers, including 23 of the 30 largest global enterprises.

IBM is taking a break today, it is down 1.67 to 184.95

Oh Great....more spam...

Microsoft (MSFT) is preparing to launch a daily deals offering under its Bing brand, with the help of startup Tippr. Google (GOOG) and Amazon (AMZN) kicked off their daily deals products over the summer, as the Internet's big names grow envious of Groupon (GRPN) and LivingSocial's rapid growth (though perhaps not their losses).

Netflix down again...

Netflix (NFLX -5.3%) is selling off for the second straight day - shares are now down over 9% since the company announced it would nix Qwikster. Hudson Square Research is upgrading Netflix today, but Pacific Crest is slashing its estimates, believing the video provider is suffering from "brand damage."

Netflix is currently down 5.16 to 106.50

I think the selling is a bit overdone.

Good Afternoon....

Sorry...been out of the office...

Stocks are looking OK today as at least we are not selling off the gains we posted yesterday.

Dow -31
Nas +3
S&P -2

The Federal Reserve will also release the minutes from the most recent FOMC meeting at 2pm ET.

Earnings season gets underway today with the release of quarterly numbers from Dow component Alcoa (AA) after this afternoon's closing bell.