Market Recap: DJIA, COMP Take Diverging Paths on Mixed Bag of Earnings

The major market indexes marched to the beat of their own drummers
today, thanks to a mixed bag of notable earnings reports. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average (DJIA) spent most of the session in the red, as an earnings miss from Caterpillar (CAT) upstaged solid quarterly reports from fellow big caps McDonald's (MCD) and Microsoft (MSFT). Meanwhile, news that the U.S. Senate rejected the House's budget-cutting proposal
only added to the blue chips' woes, though the stalemate on Capitol
Hill helped gold futures climb back above $1,600 an ounce. On the flip
side, the Nasdaq Composite (COMP) took the opposite path, blazing a
trail higher thanks to encouraging earnings reports from tech titans
like SanDisk (SNDK) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
Finally, the S&P 500 Index (SPX) essentially split the difference,
with the broad-market barometer ending a relatively stagnant session
just north of breakeven.




By the time the dust settled, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA –
12,681.16) swallowed a loss of 43.3 points, or 0.3%, giving up its
brief foothold atop the 12,700 level. Seventeen of the index's 30
components ended lower, with Caterpillar leading the laggards with a
5.8% drop, and McDonald's pacing the bullish minority with a 2.3% gain.
For the week, the Dow added 1.6%.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Index (SPX – 1,345.02) flirted with both
gains and losses, but eventually ended 1.2 points, or 0.1%, higher.
Finally, the Nasdaq Composite (COMP – 2,858.83) climbed a steady path
into the black, tacking on a healthy 24.4 points, or 0.9%, by the bell.
For the week, the SPX and COMP added 2.2% and 2.5%, respectively.


Turning to equities in focus, Dow conglomerate General Electric (GE) stepped up to the earnings plate ... Standard & Poor's Ratings Services revised its outlook on Staples (SPLS) ... Bearish bets abound on supermarket retailer Kroger (KR) ... "Safe haven" funds SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) and iShares Silver Trust (SLV) saw a rush of call activity ... Ahead of earnings, Bernstein waxed optimistic on chocolate king Hershey (HSY) ... Acme Packet (APKT) enjoyed a boost from its encouraging earnings report ... Wall Street Strategies upped its rating for trendy clothier Urban Outfitters (URBN) ... and today's Quote of the Day
comes from Jeff Goodby, co-chairman at Goodby, Silverstein &
Partners. The ad agency and the California Milk Processor Board's recent campaign came to an early end,
after the arguably sexist tone of the ads sparked an outpouring of
criticism on social networking sites. However, while Goodby was
"surprised" by the reaction, he concedes that the culture is much different than the last time they ran a similar ad, stating:

"It was a different world in 2005."