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Today's equity markets were looking weak from the start, and the horrible ADP jobs data took care of the rest. T. Boone Pickens calling for the possibility of $100 oil again failed to prevent oil's retreat by more than $5 a barrel today after a brief cease-fire took place in Gaza.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) was down sharply on bad news of its own, with shares declining 10% at $10.88 late in the day. Alcoa announced that it was cutting 13% of its workforce and streamlining its manufacturing after selling off units.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) was down almost 2% at $14.01 late in the day after being slammed by Oppenheimer's Meredith Whitney as one of the bank stocks which would likely have to raise capital this year. This is despite the firm's confirmed sale of a stake in China Construction Bank Corp.

ISM non-manufacturing and housing numbers were reported today and they remained weak, but the weakness was arguably not as bad as many were bracing for. Shares stayed up most of the day, although feelings were mixed despite the FOMC minutes showing something worse than a normal recession.

Here are today's closing bell levels:
Top Analyst Calls In Technology

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) fell almost 2% after the loved company announced price cuts to much of the iTunes offerings at Macworld today. It also seems that the large format Macbook with a 17" screen at nearly $2,700 may be a bit off the mark now that the nostalgia of thrift is full into the spirit of consumers.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) managed to post gains today after the company announced that GECC would sell $4 billion in bonds with a spread of 400 basis points. The difference between this sale and the last one yesterday is that these carry no government backing.

Today was a quiet day of selling despite the return of most traders to Wall Street. It seems that everyone was trying to get their bearings back more than they were willing to take any major bets on the "real" first day back for 2009. That also took back part of Friday's gains.

A $300 billion tax stimulus plan from President-elect Obama camp may have been trumped by more weak and bleak data, as well as by a $2.00 rise in oil. His comments of "Things are getting worse..." may have trumped any positives today, and auto sales data just echoed those thoughts.

Here are the closing bell levels:
Top Analyst Calls

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was almost a winner today. Its shares were upgraded to Overweight at JPMorgan on valuations and dominance of its online shopping empire.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) came out today to say that Steve Jobs' weight loss was tied to hormonal imbalances rather than to any resurgence of cancer. The company's notes to fight any pre-Macworld speculation paid off with shares up over 4% at $94.25 shortly before the close.

Today's weakness could be blamed on overseas weakness, or it could be blamed on the auto industry -- GM and Toyota especially. But the general feeling after watching equities on the first day of a Christmas-shortened week was that sellers were merely taking out extra cash so they could buy better presents. The roll-over in oil from last week's sub-$35 took us north of $42.00 for February NYMEX crude, but that quickly came back under $40 again.

Below are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA: 8,519.69 -59.42 -0.69%
NASDAQ: 1,532.35 -31.97 -2.04%
S&P 500: 871.63 -16.25 -1.83%
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) was cut to Sell by Goldman Sachs, but even worse, it was added to the CONVICTION SELL LIST. After shares ran so high this year, they were down over 4% at $41.80 right before the close.

There are no major economic numbers today and interestingly enough the quadruple witching date for options expiration seemed to have very little impact and create very little volatility. Even the huge drop in oil down to under $34.00 per barrel had no real impact. Even if you watched the market tick by tick, you still wouldn't have any great feel for where the market bias closed.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 8,573.29 -31.70 (-0.37%)
S&P 500 886.68 +1.40 (0.16%)
Nasdaq 1,564.32 +11.95 (0.77%)
Top Upgrades & Downgrades (BKD, SNH, AMZN, AAUK, CENX, EBAY, PRGS)
52-Week Lows

Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) earnings and guidance came in very lackluster, but not quite as bad as expected after it warned in the last two or three weeks. Shares were actually up about 10% late in the day at $42.75 as bottom fishers came in.

Today's markets were mixed for most of the day, but the GE call from S&P accelerated selling pressure into the close. The markets failed to react to a decrease in the weekly jobless claims, and considerably lower oil prices of under $37 per barrel failed to cause a cheer. Here are the unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA: 8,604.99 (-2.49%)
S&P500: 885.34 (-2.11%)
NASDAQ: 1,552.37 (-1.71%)

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) was one of the causes of today's sell-off after SD&P put the outlook down to negative from stable, although this was not a downgrade. GE was down 8% at $15.94 around the close.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) tanked after the Bush administration said it wanted to seek a solution by Christmas, but noted that it was considering a bailout plan that might be under an orderly Chapter 11 plan. Like there is such a thing. Shares were off by 15% at $3.70 before the close.

Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) posted -$0.30 EPS on $6.47 billion in revenues vs. -$0.17 EPS and $6.46 billion revenue estimates. The company now sees a wider loss for fiscal Feb-2009 and lowered its same store sales expectations. This took shares down by 12% to $0.445 right before the close.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) was a big loser after the company missed its earnings projections and severely lowered guidance for 2009. Shares were challenging 52-week lows and were down 26% at $8.89 right before the close.

Today was pretty weak on the economic front. OPEC's 4.2 million barrel per day cut was grossly mistaken at first as the cut really came to an additional 2.2 million barrels. Today's market selling was, from the start, all about profit taking from yesterday and overseas market participants getting out of weaker dollar denominated assets. The late day buying failed to materialize into an all-out rally.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) fell again on yet another downgrade. Oppenheimer cut the rating down to "Perform" after the company killed the Macworld conference. Shares were down almost 7% at $88.95 right before the close.

Constellation Energy Group (NYSE: CEG) fell after EDF in France trumped Warren Buffett in the buyout process for the company. EDF will now buy 49.99% of the company's nuclear assets for roughly $4.5 billion. Shares were down 18% at $23.55 right before the close.

If you were looking for a solid day from the FOMC, you got it. Today the Federal Reserve is entering a new age with a "Fed Funds Target" in a 0% to 0.25% range. This is a realm of zero percent rates. Housing starts came in at near-record lows and CPI is now about as worrisome as what to do with the $100 bill you get for Christmas.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was a laggard today after being hit with a Wall Street Journal article about slowing sales trends. This came a day after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock. It is also a fairly late call. Shares were up 0.6% at $95.26 right before the close.

Baidu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) was raised to the CONVICTION BUY LIST at Goldman Sachs this morning. Regardless of recent pressures from other analysts and from company policies, this caused a bottom fishing surge. Shares were up almost 12% at $132.15 right before the close.

Stocks were wishy-washy all day long, but had a very late-day comeback from earlier lows. Stocks were lower overseas as it turned out that the Madoff-fraud losses were actually going to cost some real companies some real money. The housing data left little to be desired for the six months ahead. The "whatever the bailout plan from the White House for the auto sector" was also another uncertainty today.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA: 8,564.53 -65.15 -0.75%
NASDAQ: 1,508.34 -32.38 -2.10%
S&P 500: 868.60 -11.13 -1.27%
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was down all day on a rather late and untimely analyst downgrade this morning. Shares were down almost 5% at $93.70 right before the close.

Baidu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) was down on a negative research call after Pali Research initiated coverage with a Sell rating in new coverage today. No one listened. Shares were up more than 5% around $118.00 right before the close.

Whether you are a trader or an investor, you were probably as happy as Tom Cruise's "Joel" character in Risky Business to hear the closing bell today. Things were looking so promising this week that the media was pondering whether the bottom of the market had come and gone. That part remains unknown that feeling of bear market rallies has returned. The good news is that the auto snag did not bring about the massive down day as a recovery came in. The retail sales data came in slightly "less-bad" than expected.

General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) and Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) were the two bogeys today. Their fate lies in the chances of NOT going bankrupt, and the cancellation of the bailout from the Senate was only greeted by less selling than one would expected when you saw 20% drops and worse in early trading. The good news is that this did not destroy most stocks as much as many feared earlier today, with GM even managing some gains by the end of the day.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,629.68 +64.59 (0.75%)
S&P 500 879.74 +6.15 (0.70%)
Nasdaq 1,540.72 +32.84 (2.18%)

Top Analyst Downgrades
Top Analyst Upgrades

Stocks fell today as financials were hit hard after a report from UBS predicted losses in the banking sector again in 2009. Jamie Dimon's interview comments didn't give any massive confidence boost either. This was the first day that there was a major move to the upside in what feels like forever, as oil was up $3.49 per barrel at $47.01 on last look. Today's weekly jobless claims data was also the worst we have seen in this part of the cycle.

Here are today's closing bell levels:
DJIA: 8,565.09 (-2.24)
S&P 500: 873.58 (-2.85)
NASDAQ: 1,507.88 (-3.68)

52-Week Lows

Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN) announced that the US FDA gave feedback on the DURATION-1 study for once/week diabetes treatment that will allow it to file a new drug application later in the first half of 2009. Shares were up 19% at $10.18 right before the close.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) beat earnings with $0.65 EPS vs. $0.62 estimates. Revenues were a tad light. The company said its sales were hurt by a slowdown in non-food discretionary sales and related reductions in margins associated with these sales in the latter half of the quarter.

It seems today, with its mixed bag of tricks all day long, was just what investors needed to catch their breath after nine of the last 12 days of definite bullish sentiment and upward closes. Oil was up but still under that $44.00 a barrel pivot point. A possible snag in the auto bailout movement took out some of the earlier gains, but shares came back up in the later part of the day. It was a tiny buyout, but there was a 200% premium private equity acquisition today.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) -- both Citigroup and Banc of America issued new Sell ratings on AXP this morning and selling is what traders did, as shares were down almost 8% at $21.43 right before the close.

American International Group (NYSE: AIG) was the financial disappointment of the day. The WSJ and others were reporting a $10 billion figure the company had in undisclosed counterparty liabilities. AIG tried to refute this, but the language strategy sounded like "submission via confusion" and shares were still down almost 10% at $9.75 right before the close.

On what would have been any normal Monday, the markets saw a huge rally after some overseas stability. Many emerging markets were closed for holidays and investors loved the Obama plan for new infrastructure build-outs as a stimulus package and jobs package. Bond yields even rose a bit as investors were moving away from that "flight to quality trade." In fact, this was the first day the DJIA broke above 9,000 since November 10, 20008.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Top Analyst Calls

3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) shares were off after joining in on the layoff and lower guidance game. The conglomerate said the economy and currency issues made it lower expected guidance on earnings. It is also laying off 1,800 workers, slowing manufacturing capacity, and sending some workers home temporarily.

Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) gave some pretty ghastly forecast numbers, but shares rose as the company had already snuck this data out on a tease last week. The chemical giant was up 7% at $20.38 shortly before the close. That isn't bad for a company canning 11% of its workforce and closing 20 of its factories.

If you were depressed about more than 500,000 jobs being destroyed and over a 6.7% unemployment number, it seems that technical trading buyers came in to your rescue today. Home delinquencies rose in every single market but that is expected by now. The late day rally came on strong and bailed out the bulls today. Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

DJIA 8,635.42 +259.18 (3.09%)
S&P 500 876.07 +30.85 (3.65%)
Nasdaq 1,509.31 +63.75 (4.41%)
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) is expected to win control over Merrill Lynch as today is the shareholder vote on the merger. Shares rose over 7% to $15.35 on the news.

Despite coordinated rate cuts from the European Central Bank and the Bank of England, shares of equities fell lower today. It seems that the auto-begging bailout presentations left the feeling that the $34 billion was only a front-running head start on what may be needed ahead. Weekly jobless claims were above 500,000 again, but did come in under last week and not as bad as expectations. Unfortunately, most traders are bracing for a bad jobs number and unemployment number tomorrow morning.

DJIA: 8,375.81 (-216.88) (2.52%)
S&P500 845.15 (-25.59) (2.94%)
NASDAQ 1,445.56 (-46.82) (3.14%)

Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) said it expected a sequential decline from Q3-2008 revenues of $1.585 billion by a sharp 25%. That gives an implied revenue number of around $1.188 billion. Thomson Reuters had estimates of $1.54 billion. Shares were down over 6% at $2.06 right before the close.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) announced this morning that it was cutting 4% of its workforce. The company sees a Q4 charge of $600 million. The company did not warn on earnings, but it did note that the cuts are the result of the change in climate in telecom business mix and economic pressure. Shares were down almost 4% at $27.97 before the close.

General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) fell the worst as it is still in the hot seat. The fear is that the auto companies are going to hold out a tin cup sooner rather than later even if they get this first round of money. Shares were down 16% at $4.08 before the close.

Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) gave sub-par guidance for 2009 of $3.15 to $3.30 EPS, yet Thomson Reuters had estimates of $3.52 EPS. Shares were down over 5% at $24.95 before the close.