24/7 Wall St. » RIMM

BlackBerry Surges on 1 Million Unit Order

Jon C. Ogg — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 20:15:34 +0000

BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY), the former RIM, saw shares surge late on Wednesday after it reported that “one of its established partners” has placed an order for one million BlackBerry 10 smartphones. The company did not say which partner it was that made the order but it did say that shipments would begin immediately. What is perhaps more important than anything is that Blackberry claims that this is the largest single order from a partner in BlackBerry’s entire history. It may have helped if we knew exactly which partner it was, but sometimes it is important not to look a gift horse in the mouse. That is true even if we don’t know who the gift horse is.

We have seen very mixed reports from Blackberry, but the bloodletting of the prior two years has finally abated. The new BlackBerry Z10 is already available for purchase in a number of international markets and is due momentarily in the United States.

Blackberry shares rose 8.3% at $15.67 and $6.22 to $18.32 and its market cap is $8.04 billion.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Consumer Electronics, Technology, Technology Companies, Telecom & Wireless Tagged: BBRY, featured, RIMM

Short Interest Wanes in Some Big Stocks (GE, NOK, BAC, VZ, ANR, MCD, AAPL, RIMM, MSFT, DELL, GMCR, CSCO)

Paul Ausick — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 12:50:13 +0000

We have tracked the key short interest changes as of February 15 in the following large cap stocks: General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE), Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: ANR), McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Research in Motion, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) and Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO).

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) short interest rose 6.4% to 77.96 million shares. About 0.7% of GE’s float is now short.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) saw short interest fall by 2.7% to 330.97 million shares, about 8.8% of the company’s total float.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) short interest rise 10.3% to 166 million shares, which represents 1.5% of the company’s float.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) saw a 3.8% rise in short interest to 47.05 million shares, which represents about 1.6% of the firm’s float.

Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: ANR) showed a rise of 3.6% in short interest, to 33.13 million shares, about 15.2% of Alpha’s float.

McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) showed a rise of 12.5% in short interest, to 13.92 million shares, about 1.4% of the company’s float.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) saw a short interest fall by 0.4% to 18.78 million shares, or 2% of the company’s float.

Research In Motion changed its name to BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY) on January 30, and short interest for this period was reported under the old name and ticker symbol RIMM. It saw short interest rise by 5.4% to 136.51 million shares, or 27.6% of the total float.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) posted a 4.4% rise in short interest, to 83.58 million shares, about 1.1% of Microsoft’s float.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) short interest fall by 30.1%, to 28.73 million shares or about 2% of the company’s float.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) saw short interest increase by 13.9% to 30.89 million shares or 25.4% of the company’s float.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) saw short interest fall by 3% to 55.11 million shares or about 1% of the company’s float.

Short interest in Dell has declined dramatically again following the buyout offer from Michael Dell and his partners. The rise in BlackBerry’s share price has brought more short interest because few people really believe the new smartphones will make much of dent in the armor of Apple, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) or Samsung. GE’s rise in short interest is likely due to investors’ belief that the stock is fully valued and prospects are dimming as the global economy continues its slow motion recovery.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Large Cap Stocks, Short Interest Tagged: AAPL, ANR, BAC, CSCO, DELL, GE, GMCR, GOOG, MCD, MSFT, NOK, RIMM, VZ

Some Actively Traded Stocks See Jump in Short Interest (GE, NOK, BAC, VZ, ANR, MCD, AAPL, RIMM, MSFT, DELL, GMCR, CSCO)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:15:43 +0000

We have tracked the key short interest changes as of January 31 in the following large cap stocks: General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE), Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC), Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: ANR), McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Research In Motion Ltd., Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) and Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO).

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) short interest rose 29.4% to 73.27 million shares. About 0.7% of GE’s float is now short.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) saw short interest rise by 8.8% to 340.12 million shares, about 8.8% of the company’s total float.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) short interest fell 8.4% to 150.49 million shares, which represents 1.4% of the company’s float.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) saw a 5.8% decline in short interest to 45.32 million shares, which represents about 1.6% of the firm’s float.

Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: ANR) showed a drop of 6.4% in short interest, to 31.99 million shares, about 14.7% of Alpha’s float.

McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) showed a rise of 6.3% in short interest, to 12.37 million shares, about 1.2% of the company’s float.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) saw a short interest increase of 6.5% to 18.86 million shares, or 2% of the company’s float.

Research In Motion — now BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY) — saw short interest fall by 4.2% to 129.49 million shares, or 27.7% of the total float. The company’s changed its name on January 30.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) posted a 7.4% rise in short interest, to 80.09 million shares, about 1.1% of Microsoft’s float.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) short interest fell by 28.4% to 41.1 million shares, or about 2.8% of the company’s float.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) saw short interest fall by 12.6% to 27.12 million shares, or 22.3% of the company’s float.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) saw short interest fall by 2.5% to 56.8 million shares. That is about 1.1% of the company’s float.

BlackBerry remains the most heavily shorted of these active stocks, name change notwithstanding. Dell’s short interest fell dramatically in the days leading up to the buyout offer from Michael Dell and his partners. GE’s rise in short interest is likely due to investors’ belief that the company will not repeat its strong fourth-quarter showing. Finally, McDonald’s has been having trouble meeting expectations for monthly sales, and shorts are taking advantage of that.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Short Interest Tagged: AAPL, ANR, BAC, CSCO, DELL, featured, GE, GMCR, MCD, MSFT, NOK, RIMM, VZ

Dear BlackBerry: What Does “Best Day Ever” Really Mean?

Jon C. Ogg — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 19:32:09 +0000

BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY) has just issued an odd press release via MarketWire on Wednesday. The claim is that BlackBerry’s new phone launch was the best day ever in Canada. It also talks up three-times its best performance in the first week in the United Kingdom. We will leave it up to you to decide what this means as far as units sold and what it means financially to the company now formally known as Research in Motion or RIM.

The company said,

“In Canada, yesterday was the best day ever for the first day of a launch of a new BlackBerry smartphone. In fact, it was more than 50% better than any other launch day in our history in Canada,” said Thorsten Heins, President & CEO of BlackBerry. “In the UK, we have seen close to three times our best performance ever for the first week of sales for a BlackBerry smartphone.”

With the US launch being effectively delayed, it is no wonder that so many analysts are mixed and looking for the real bias ahead. Comments this morning from Canaccord Genuity said, “Our U.K. store surveys post the recent launch of the Z10 smartphone indicated solid initial sales. However, limited initial supply was cited as the reason for early post-launch stockouts at some carrier stores versus overwhelming demand. In fact, our surveys indicated most stores received less than 15 units and sold a majority of these units over a two- to three-day period, leading to initial stock-outs at a few stores and low inventory levels at others.” That firm maintained a $9.00 price target based upon the sum-of-the-parts.

BlackBerry was still named RIM on Monday of this week, but it was raised to “Buy” with a $22 price target at the time.

We have been reading much about the news on “being sold out” and it may not be quite as optimistic or as bullish as BlackBerry might want you to believe. That being said, it is at least better than a poke in the eye.

As a reminder, the Palm Treo faced sharp demand at its launch as well. Now Palm is not even a remnant operating system that alive even as an alternative for throwback fans.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Consumer Electronics, Telecom & Wireless Tagged: BBRY, featured, RIMM

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (BRCM, CAVM, CVX, CONN, CPA, ERIC, GOOG, HSY, IP, MPEL, MRK, RIMM, STJ, UTI, VOD, WMT, YHOO, DB, CS)

Jon C. Ogg — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 13:25:36 +0000

These are this Monday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall St. research calls.

Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) reiterated Buy with $46 target at Argus.

Cavium Inc. (NASDAQ: CAVM) reiterated Buy with $42 price target at Argus.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) cut to Neutral at UBS.

Conn’s Inc. (NASDAQ: CONN) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Copa Holdings S.A. (NYSE: CPA) started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) raised to Conviction Buy List from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) cut to Market Perform at BMO.

Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) removed from Conviction Buy List and cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

International Paper Co. (NYSE: IP) reiterated Buy and raised target to $48 from $42 at Argus.

Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) raised to Hold at Jefferies.

Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) cut to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM), soon to be BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY), raised to Buy with $22 price target at Bernstein.

St. Jude Medical Inc. (NYSE: STJ) raised to Outperform with $48 target at Credit Suisse.

Universal Technical Institute Inc. (NYSE: UTI) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ: VOD) cut to Neutral at Citigroup.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) cut to Neutral at J.P. Morgan.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.

Canaccord Genuity is mixed on European banks: started coverage as Buy on Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) and started coverage as Hold on Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS).

If you want to know how capital inflows are impacting stocks, you better take a look. This is acting to drive stocks and is one part of why we are considering raising our 2013 DJIA target from 14,590.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: BRCM, CAVM, CONN, CPA, CS, CVX, DB, ERIC, GOOG, HSY, IP, MPEL, MRK, RIMM, STJ, UTI, VOD, WMT, YHOO

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — January 31, 2013: Markets Slip Again (HES, STX, QCOMM, FIO, CMA, CTXS, COP, EA, FB, JDSU, LVS, AET, MO, AN, CL, DNKN, MA, PHM, TWC, UPS, BYI, GDOT, WYNN, CVX, XOM, MAT, MRK, NOV, TSN, RIMM, WMS, SGMS, STZ)

Paul Ausick — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 21:17:51 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened lower this morning following a mixed bag of data on the U.S. economy and mixed earnings results out this morning. In Europe, Germany’s retail sales fell sharply this month, but the unemployment rate improved to 6.8% (more coverage here). U.K. housing prices rose 0.5% in the month, while French consumer spending was unchanged and the country’s producer price index fell. In Asia, Japanese PMI rose. In the U.S., new claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected, as did personal income and employment costs (more coverage here). Yesterday’s sell-off really got global markets off on the wrong today.

The U.S. dollar index fell 0.1% today, now at 79.208. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.8% at 675.95, with commodities prices mixed today. WTI crude oil closed down 0.5% today, at $97.49 a barrel, but up 6.1% for the best January since 2006 (if you’re an oil trader). Brent crude trades up 0.5% at $115.52 a barrel. Natural gas is up 0.2% today at about $3.34 per million BTUs following a smaller-than-expected draw on stocks (more coverage here). Gold settled down 1.2% today at $1,662.00 an ounce, down 0.8% for the month of January and the fourth consecutive monthly loss for the yellow metal (more gold coverage here).

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down nearly 50 points to 13,860.58 (-0.36%), the NASDAQ fell less than 1 point (-0.01%) to 3,142.13, and the S&P 500 fel -0.26% or nearly 4 points to 1,498.11.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) cut to ‘neutral’ at UBS and cut to ‘hold’ at SocGen; Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) cut to ‘underweight’ at Barclays; Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) reiterated as ‘buy’ and price target raised to $83 at Canaccord Genuity; Fusion-io Inc. (NYSE: FIO) raised to ‘buy’ at Lazard, cut to ‘neutral’ at J.P. Morgan and Credit Suisse; and Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) cut to ‘underperform’ at Bernstein.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in several price moves today, including these: Citrix Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXS) is up 9.8% at $73.54; ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) is down 4.7% at $58.21 (more oil company coverage here); Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) is up 4.3% at $15.74; Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is up 0.4% at $31.37 (more coverage here); JDS Uniphase Corp. (NASDAQ: JDSU) is up 17.7% at $14.59; Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) is up 6.7% at $54.99 (more coverage here); Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) is down 1.3% at $48.31; Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) is up 0.1% at $33.72 (more coverage here); AutoNation Inc. (NYSE: AN) is up 8.3% at $48.46; Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) is down 2.9% at $107.63; Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. (NASDAQ: DNKN) is up 2% at $36.51 after posting a new 52-week high of $40.00 earlier today; Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) is up 0.3% at $517.41 after posting a new 52-week high of $535.35 earlier today; PulteGroup Inc. (NYSE: PHM) is down 1.9% at $20.66 (more coverage here); Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) is down 12.1% at $88.55; and United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) is down 2% at $79.57 (more coverage here).

After markets close today and before they open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear from Bally Technologies Inc. (NYSE: BYI), Green Dot Corp. (NASDAQ: GDOT), Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN), Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT), Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK), National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV), and Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) is down 5.1% at $13.08. The smartphone maker changed its name to BlackBerry and launched two new smartphones yesterday, and got a slew of analysts’ downgrades this morning. More coverage here.

WMS Industries Inc. (NYSE: WMS) is up 51.3% at $24.77 after posting a new 52-week high of $25.30 earlier today. The gambling machine maker is being acquired by Scientific Games Corp. (NASDAQ: SGMS) for about $1.5 billion, or $26 a share, in cash.

Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) is down 19.1% at $31.68. The alcoholic beverage maker is collateral damage in a DoJ decision to axe Anheuser-Busch InBev SA’s (NYSE: BUD) acquisition of Mexico’s Grupo Modelo. More coverage here.

Stay tuned for Friday. Auto sales will be reported throughout the day. New York Fed President William Dudley is giving a speech. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – Employment situation
8:58 a.m. – PMI manufacturing index
9:55 a.m. – University of Michigan/Thomson Reuters consumer sentiment index
10:00 a.m. – Institute for Supply Management manufacturing index
10:00 a.m. – Construction spending

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AET, AN, BYI, CL, CMA, COP, CTXS, CVX, DNKN, EA, FB, featured, FIO, GDOT, HES, JDSU, LVS, MA, MAT, MO, MRK, NOV, PHM, QCOMM, RIMM, SGMS, STX, STZ, TSN, TWC, UPS, WMS, WYNN, XOM

Puzzler: Why Are RIM Downgrades Coming Now, Instead of Last Week?

Paul Ausick — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:29:43 +0000

With only a couple of exceptions, analysts covering Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) maintained their ratings on the company’s stock until after RIM launched its new BlackBerry 10 operating system and phones. Didn’t they like the company’s name change, also announced yesterday, to “BlackBerry” or the new ticker symbol?

An article in Forbes presents bits for four of today’s downgrades to RIM’s stock since yesterday’s launch. Charter Equity Research downed the stock from ‘buy’ to ‘market perform’, saying the recent run-up in shares was too fast and that markets are skeptical that the new phones will be able to compete against either Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) or Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). This is new?

The analyst at S&P capital IQ cut RIM’s shares from Hold to Sell, while raising the price target from $12 to $13. And though he praises the capabilities of the new BlackBerry phones, he thinks they will only appeal to the ever-shrinking number of current BlackBerry users. This is new?

At Credit Suisse, RIM’s shares were cut from Neutral to Underperform and the price target was lowered from $11 to $10. The analyst thinks there will be “limited traction for the new phones.” No kidding?

At Evercore Partners, RIM was cut from Equal Weight to Underweight and the $8 price target was kept. Again, the analyst expects a “muted” response to the new phones.

The new BlackBerry phones, especially the touch-screen Z10, have gotten very fine reviews. That’s not enough — it was never enough. RIM is playing catch-up and unless it comes up with some sort of performance-enhancing drug (cut-rate pricing to push into emerging markets?) the company is no better off or no worse off today than it was yesterday.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls, Telecom & Wireless Tagged: AAPL, featured, GOOG, RIMM

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (CMA, FB, FIO, HES, JDSU, KMB, LOGI, QCOM, RIMM, RF, STX, SFD, UTX)

Jon C. Ogg — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 13:38:48 +0000

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

Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) cut to Underperform at Bernstein.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) has taken three analyst downgrades this morning, and one boutique upgrade (FULL NOTE).

Fusion-io Inc. (NYSE: FIO) is down handily after earnings but was raised to Buy from Hold at Lazard. J.P. Morgan cut the rating to Neutral from Overweight and Credit Suisse cut the rating to Neutral from Outperform.

Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) cut to Neutral at UBS and cut to Hold at Soc-Gen.

JDS Uniphase Corp. (NASDAQ: JDSU) raised to Buy at Needham.

Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) reiterated Buy and raised target by $6 to $98 at Argus.

Logitech International S.A. (NASDAQ: LOGI) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) reiterated Buy and raised target price to $83 at Canaccord Genuity.

Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse; S&P Equity Research cut RIM to Sell late Wednesday afternoon after the BB10 release.

Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) cut to Underperform at Bernstein and cut to Neutral at Baird.

Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) cut to Underweight at Barclays.

Smithfield Foods Inc. (NYSE: SFD) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) reiterated Buy and raised target by $8 to $100 at Argus.

Deutsche Bank has raised its targets and estimates on many health care facility and hospital stocks around Obamacare now.

Well-known analyst Dick Bove is at a new firm and he has called this week for 30% upside in the major bank stocks.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls Tagged: CMA, FB, FIO, HES, JDSU, KMB, LOGI, QCOM, RF, RIMM, SFD, STX, UTX

Media Digest (1/31/2013) Reuters, WSJ, NY Times

Douglas A. McIntyre — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:23:33 +0000

Iran’s oil exports rise sharply in December, despite sanctions. (Reuters)

Deutsche Bank A.G. (NYSE: DB) has a large fourth-quarter loss as it rids its balance sheet of bad assets. (Reuters)

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) may cease consumer banking in several nations. (Reuters)

Facebook Inc.’s (NASDAQ: FB) mobile ad revenue doubles. (Reuters)

All Nippon Airways has not asked Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) for compensation for grounded 787s but has kept a record of costs. (Reuters)

Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) renames itself BlackBerry and launches its “10″ devices. (Reuters)

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) raises its guidance. (Reuters)

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (NYSE: RDS-A) earnings rise. (WSJ)

Student debt default begins to rise. (WSJ)

Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE: APO) and Metropoulos pay $410 million for Hostess assets. (WSJ)

Chrysler says an effort to produce new models will reduce future profits. (WSJ)

Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) unit TIME Inc. will cut hundreds of jobs. (NYT)

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Press Digest Tagged: APO, BA, C, DB, FB, QCOM, RDS-A, RIMM, TWX

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — January 30, 2013: Markets Slide on GDP, Fed Stimulus (WBSN, JBLU, KBH, YUM, CSCO, AMZN, BRCM, RYL, RHI, BA, ADT, LLL, PSX, NOC, SO, CTXS, COP, EA, FB, JDSU, LVS, AET, MO, AN, CL, DNKN, MA, PHM, TWC, UPS, RIMM, CHK, VTUS)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 21:06:34 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened mixed this morning following a depressing report on U.S. GDP growth, which turned out to be negative (more coverage here). Even a good jobs report from ADP couldn’t overcome the story on GDP. In Europe, Spain’s prime minister said that changing the country’s deficit targets would send the wrong message, as if the country’s decline in GDP growth and record high unemployment hasn’t already telegraphed the message (more coverage here). In Asia markets rose when a Japan expert suggested that the country’s central bank could double its asset purchase program to reach the 2% inflation target. Afternoon trading slid to new lows following the FOMC announcement that interest rates would remain unchanged (more coverage here).

The U.S. dollar index fell 0.4% today, now at 79.235. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.8% at 670.51, with commodities prices mostly higher again today. WTI crude oil closed up 0.4% today, at $97.94 a barrel following a sharp increase in crude oil inventories today (more coverage here). Brent crude trades up 0.5% at $114.93 a barrel. Natural gas is up 2.3% today at about $3.23 per million BTUs. Gold settled up 0.5% today at $1,681.60 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down 44 points to 13,910.42 (-0.32%), the NASDAQ fell more than 11 points (-0.36%) to 3,142.31, and the S&P 500 fell -0.39% or nearly 6 points to 1,501.96.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Websense Inc. (NASDAQ: WBSN) cut to ‘sell’ at Topeka Capital; JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) cut to ‘underperform’ at Raymond James; KB Home (NYSE: KBH) raised to ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse; Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) cut to ‘market perform’ at Bernstein; and Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) raised to ‘outperform’ at Baird.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in several price moves today, including these: Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is up 4.4% at $271.84 after posting a new 52-week high of $284.79 earlier today (more coverage here); Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) is up 0.2% at $33.76 (more coverage here); Ryland Group Inc. (NYSE: RYL) is down 2.6% at $40.24 after putting up a new 52-week high of $42.79 earlier today; Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE: RHI) is up 5.7% at $35.45 after posting a new 52-week high of $35.72 earlier today; The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) is up 1.1% at $74.42 (more coverage here); The ADT Corp. (NYSE: ADT) is up 3.6% at $48.17 after posting a new 52-week high of $49.16 earlier today; L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LLL) is up 0.1% at $77.96; Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) is up 1.6% at $60.83 after posting a second consecutive 52-week high of $62.91 earlier today (more coverage here); Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC) is down 0.5% at $66.43 (more coverage here); and Southern Co. (NYSE: SO) is down 0.1% at $44.56.

After markets close today and before they open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear from Citrix Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXS), ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA), Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), JDS Uniphase Corp. (NASDAQ: JDSU), Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS), Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET), Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO), AutoNation Inc. (NYSE: AN), Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL), Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. (NASDAQ: DNKN), Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA), PulteGroup Inc. (NYSE: PHM), Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC), and United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) is down 10.3% at $14.04. The smartphone maker changed its name to BlackBerry and launched two new smartphones today. More coverage here.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) is up 6.5% at $20.20. The natural gas producer lost its CEO last night — or did the board fire him? More coverage here.

Ventrus Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: VTUS) is down 22.9% at $2.53. The development stage pharmaceutical firm priced a secondary offering of 5.8 million shares at $2.50 a share, a discount of 24% to last night’s closing price.

Stay tuned for Thursday. We have noted the following event on the schedule (all times Eastern):

7:30 a.m. – Challenger job-cut report
8:30 a.m. – New claims for unemployment benefits
8:30 a.m. – Personal income and outlays
8:30 a.m. – Employment cost index
9:45 a.m. – Chicago PMI
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
3:00 p.m. – Farm prices
4:30 p.m. – Fed balance sheet and money supply

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