After the close…

We have AVAV -1.5% and MW +1.2% following their earnings release.

Stocks edged higher through the first half of the session, but lost direction in afternoon trade. However, the major averages still finished with solid gains.

Notable stocks reporting earnings after the close today included AVAV, CHP, GAME, MW and SHFL.

Futures are mixed after hours: S&P 500 futures are +0.99 from fair value of 1099.3 and Nasdaq100 futures -0.30 points from fair value of 1877.80.

Nine of the ten sectors were in positive territory, led by financials(+1.1%), industrials (+1.0%) and energy (+0.9%).

Tomorrow we have no economic reports and you should look for the following companies to report earnings before the open: KFY, PNY, and STEI.

After the close…

Notable stocks reporting after the close today included FLOW, MIND, NAV,
PBY and PVH.

If you didn’t notice, the return from the Holiday was a definite sell it day.

Today, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) announced the company will acquire ZymoGenetics (ZGEN) for $9.75 in cash. Initially, the transaction is expected to be dilutive to EPS for BMY.

Futures are trading higher after hours: S&P 500 futures are +0.15 from fair value of 1091.05 and Nasdaq100 futures +3.29 points from fair value of1854.21.

All ten sectors were in negative territory today, led by financials (-2.4%), energy (-1.6%) and consumer discretionary (-1.6%).

Tomorrow we have no economic reports and before the open look for the following companies to report earnings: CIEN, HITK, JTX, SFD, TLB, TITN and UNFI.

Looks like the Dow advanced +2.93% this week and my favorite Index ^SML (S&P Smallcap 600) advanced +4.12%. So next week I’ll be back on the job with the daily Market Close post. I hope you are watching the dow charts looking for the leaders.

After the close…

The following notable companies reported earnings: ARUN, BEBE, IRF, MCRS,
DLLR, SLH, NZ, NOVL and OVTI. JCG is down -7%.

Today technical resistance and a lack of leadership led stocks to roll
over even with a better-than-expected weekly jobless claims report.
However, near-term support helped keep the averages from closing at their
session lows.

Also today HPQ raised its PAR proposal to $27 per share in cash. After
hours, PAR is trading 6.8% higher.

Futures are trading lower after hours: S&P 500 futures -1.98 points from
fair value of 1045.68 and Nasdaq 100 futures -1.15 points from fair value
of 1766.65.

All ten sectors were in negative territory, led by tech (-1.1%), energy
(-1.0%) and financials (-0.9%).

Tomorrow morning before the open we have the following reports: GDP –
second estimate (Consensus 1.4%) and GDP Deflator — second estimate
(Consensus 1.8%).

Also tomorrow before the open FRO and TIF are expected to report earnings.

After the close…

We have the following notable companies reporting earnings: CYBX, GES, HAIN, HEI, JAS, JDSU, KONG, RUE, SIGM, SMTC and TIVO. JDSU is down -3.2% in after-hours.

Today, markets were dealt another dose of disappointing data, but managed to finish with their first gain in five sessions.

Futures are higher after hours with S&P 500 futures +1.12 points from fair value of 1053.78 and Nasdaq 100 futures +2.46 points from fair value of 1788.54.

Seven of the ten sectors were in positive territory, led by consumer discretionary (+1.0%), health care (+1.0%) and telecom (+0.6%).

Tomorrow morning before the open, reports scheuled for release include initial claims (Consensus 485K) and continuing claims (Consensus 4515K).

Tomorrow, before the open RGS, LB, DHT, PDCO, SFL, FRED, BRLI, CONN, MPR, APWR, and GRB are expected to report earnings.

After the close…

Today after the close DY, NCTY, PAY and PSUN were the notable names reporting earnings.

PSUN is down -6.2% and PAY is up +1.9% following their earnings release.

We have now had four straight down sessions for a cumulative loss of 3.9%.

Lame existing home sales figures for July only added negativity to the economic outlook.

Futures edged lower after hours with S&P 500 futures -1.52 points from fair value of 1050.22 and Nasdaq 100 futures -0.53 points from fair value of 1772.53.

Eight of ten sectors were in negative territory, led by materials (-2.3%), industrials (-2.0%) and health care (-2.0%).

Tomorrow morning there is one economic report scheduled to be released, with two pieces of data, before the open: Durable Goods (Consensus 3.0%) and 2) Durable Goods — ex transportation (Consensus 0.5%).

Tomorrow before the open look for the following companies to report: AEO, BWS,CWTR, ITRN, OSIS, PERY, SYNO and TOL.

After the close…

FMCN is up +2.5% following it’s after the close earnings release.

Today, the recent M&A activity, rumored or actual, was seen as a bullish sign with stocks climbing almost 1% before the S&P 500 lost momentum upon hitting 1081, which marked the 50% retracement of its downturn from last week’s intraday high to last week’s intraday low. The final leg down made for the stock market’s lowest close in over one month.

Futures are lower after hours with S&P 500 futures -1.72 points from fair value of 1065.72 and Nasdaq 100 futures +1.92 points from fair value of 1805.58.

Six of the ten sectors were in negative territory, led by industrials (-1.1%), materials (-1.0%) and tech (-1.0%). Tomorrow morning there is one economic report scheduled to be released before the open: Existing Home Sales (Consensus 4.72 mln).

Also tomorrow before the open the following companies are expected to report earnings: BKC, BKS, BIG, MDT and TSL.

U.S. equity markets ended the week of Aug. 16-20 mixed following somewhat volatile trade. With three up days followed by two down days the week finished lower.

The sector breakdown was mostly negative, as seven of the 10 S&P groups ended lower, led by energy (-2.3%). Only technology (+0.7%), consumer discretionary (+0.6%) and materials (+0.4%) managed to finish slightly higher.

Markets regained opening losses on Monday, rallied on Tuesday, was up and down on Wednesday to finish a little higher, sold off hard on Thursday and did a mild comeback on Friday, still finishing lower.

Retailers Walmart (WMT) and Home Depot (HD) reported earnings this week with results and guidance mixed.

This week we also had Potash (POT) announce that it rejected a takeover offer from BHP Billiton (BHP). That offer was for $130 per share in cash, a 16% premium to the prior session's closing price. Shares of POT surged more than 27% on the announcement. BHP did not give up and appealed to POT shareholders through a newspaper advertisement before taking the bid hostile.

The POT/BHP story led to a renewed batch of M&A speculation. Next we had Intel (INTC) acquired McAfee (MFE) on Thursday morning in a cash transaction for a 60% premium.

Nnext week on the economic calendar we have existing home sales on Tuesday, durable goods orders on Wednesday, initial jobless claims on Thursday and the second reading for Q2 2010 GDP on Friday. The Treasury market will have the next round of auctions. $7 billion in 30-year TIPS will reopen on Monday, followed by $102 billion in 2-, 5- and 7-year Notes going on sale Tuesday through Thursday.

DJIA: Down -0.9% for the week.
Nasdaq: Up 0.3% for the week.
S&P 500: Down -0.7% for the week.
Russell 2000: Up 0.2 % for the week.

After the close…

Following earnings and guidance we have DELL down -1.3% and HPQ down -0.6%.

Today, some ugly data sent stocks spiraling lower. However the selloff slowed when the stock market approached its monthly low.

After the close notable stocks reporting earnings are ARO, BCSI, CRM, DELL, GPS, HPQ and MRVL.

Futures are lower after hours with S&P 500 futures -2.11 points from fair value of 1074.01 and Nasdaq 100 futures -0.86 points from fair value of 1822.61.

All ten sectors were in negative territory today, led by financials (-2.4%), materials (-2.2%) and industrials (-2.1%).

Tomorrow morning, there are no economic reports scheduled to be released before the open:

Also tomorrow before the following companies expected to report earnings: ANN, COCO, HIBB, HRL, KIRK and SJM.