Stocks closed mixed today with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 closing moderately to the downside, while the NASDAQ managed to eek out a gain.
The Dow was off 7.49 points to close at 8497.18, NASDAQ was up 11.88 points, finishing at 1808.06 and the S&P 500 lost 1.26 points, to end the session at 910.71.
In economic news, the Labor Department put out its monthly Consumer Price Index or CPI and for the month of May, the index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.1% versus forecasts for a rise of 0.3%. The core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.1% as well.
In earnings news, FedEx (FDX) announced that its fiscal 2009 fourth-quarter net loss widened to $876 million or $2.82 on a per share basis. This compares to a loss of $241 million, or $0.78 in the year ago period.
The company also announced that its expects fiscal 2010 Q1 earnings to come in a range of $0.30 and $0.45, compared to $1.23 in the year ago period. Wall Street consensus estimates for the 2010 Q1 period currently stands at $0.70.
In trading action, there were seventeen stocks among the Dow 30 stocks that rose today, with 3M (MMM) which rose $0.63 to close at $59.04 the strongest performer.
With the selling off of the commodities continuing yet again for another session, oil stocks took a beating and Chevron (CVX), which lost $1.05 was the worst performer in the Dow on the day.
The other oil stock in the index, Exxon Mobil (XOM) did manage to limit its losses, closing down just $0.21 to $71.42.
Within the broader based S&P 500 index, Apollo Group (APOL) rose $2.88 to $66.40. The company provides online education services and that sector as a whole, was strong today.
Other S&P 500 stocks rising on the day, included Autozone (AZO) $155.54 +$3.06, CR Bard ((BCR) $73.67 +$2.28, Watson Pharmaceuticals (WPI) $30.27 +$1.43 and Laboratory Corp of America (LH) $64.98 +$2.47
