Slightly Positive Day Driven By Slightly Positive News, MSFT, T Down After Earnings

U.S. investors took heart from a slight weekly dip in new unemployment claims, ignoring a drop in sales of previously occupied houses and ongoing wrangling in the European Union. Sunday's big summit, it appears, may be nothing more than a prelude. German and French leaders are already calling for more meetings on the assumption nothing definitive will come of Sunday's get together.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.33 percent, or 38.45 points, to 11,543.07; the Nasdaq was down 0.21 percent, or 3.26 points, to 2,600.78; the Standard & Poor's 500 was up 0.53 percent, or 6.38 points, to 1,216.26; the NYSE composite was up 0.39 percent, or 28.58 points, to 7,268.84; and the AMEX composite was up 0.56 percent, or 12.45 points, to 2,165.68.

Hot Stocks

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) met EPS estimates in its most-recent quarter, but ended up down slightly, 0.41 percent, or $0.13, to $28.97.

A day after agreeing to pay a hefty fine to the federal Securities and Exchange Commission in a civil fraud case, Citigroup (NYSE:C) was up 2.23 percent, or $0.66, to $30.05.

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT) met EPS estimates and exceeded revenue estimates in its fiscal first quarter. That wasn't enough for investors who sent the stock down 0.15 percent, or $0.04, to $27.09. Shares were down an additional 0.44 percent in early after-hours trading.

Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE:UNP) reported a better than expected quarter, sending the stock up 4.00 percent, or $3.65, to 94.61.

Cirrus Logic Inc. (Nasdaq:CRUS) warned of looming revenue worries and got pounded to the tune of a 16.52 percent, or $2.81, drop to $14.20.

Commodities and Currencies

Oil was down 0.15 percent, or $0.13, to $85.98 per barrel. Gold was up 0.36 percent, or $6.00, to $1,652.00 per ounce. Silver was down 0.69 percent, or $0.88, to $30.375 per ounce.

The euro gained 0.0023, or 0.17 percent, against! the U.S . dollar to 1.3783. The dollar gained 0.1005, or 0.13 percent, against the Japanese yen to 78.9280. The British pound gained 0.0028, or 0.18 percent, against the U.S. dollar to 1.58.

International Markets

Overseas, it was all gloom today.

Britain's FTSE was down 1.21 percent, or 65.81 points, to 5,384.60; Germany's DAX was down 2.49 percent, or 147.05; and France's CAC 40 was down 2.32 percent, or 73.27 points, to 3,084.07.

Japan's Nikkei was down 1.03 percent, or 90.39 points, to 8,682.15; Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 1.78 percent, or 326.12 points, to 17,983.10; Singapore's Straits Times was down 0.96 percent, or 26.20 points, to 2,694.01; and China's Shanghai Composite was down 1.94 percent, or 46.15 points, to 2,331.37.

Industry Watch

Wow. Level 3 Communications Services Inc. (NYSE:LVLT) was up an amazing 1,398.06 percent today, driving the diversified communications services industry up 43.85 percent to claim best-performing industry of the day.

Actually, Level 3 is less impressive on further examination. The company did a 1-for-15 reverse stock split in preparation for its NYSE debut today. Shares, after the split, added $21.67 to end at $23.17.

The processing systems and products industry was the day's laggard, down 15.69 percent.

Polycom Inc. (Nasdaq:PLCM) was down 25.19 percent, or $5.48, to $16.35 after a disappointing Q3.

Best and Worst

On a percentage basis, it was going to be impossible to beat Level 3 for biggest percentage gainer of the day.

The biggest percentage decliner, however, went to Wowjoint Holdings Ltd. (Nasdaq:BWOWU). The Chinese transportation infrastructure services and equipment provider was down 30.83 percent, or $0.3699, to $0.83.

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