Going into this afternoon’s earnings report, Apple was expected to report earnings of $7.38 per share, but actual earnings came in well below what analysts were expecting to see at just $7.02 per share. Revenues were also lower than expected at $28.3 billion, which do represent a 39 percent jump year over year, but below the $29.4 billion that analysts had been expecting to see.

One of the company’s strongest product lines is the iPhone, which was weak during its fiscal fourth quarter. With the new iPhone 4 release just around the corner, iPhone buys put off buying a new phone until this month when the 4S became available. Apple sold just 17.1 million iPhones during the quarter, down from 20.3 million during the previous quarter.

On a brighter note, Apple did issue better than expected first quarter earnings forecast. Apple typically low-balls its forward guidance while analysts forecast higher earnings, but not this time. Apple forecast that it would report first quarter earnings of $9.30 on revenues of $37 billion. Analyst have previously forecast that the company will have Q1 earnings of $9 per share on $36.7 billion in revenues.

After hours traders are selling off the stock pretty sharply, pushing shares down 6.6% to $396.80, down $27.86.

Going into this afternoon’s earnings report, analysts had been expecting to see Google report third quarter earnings of $8.74 per share, but actual earnings came in well above estimates at $9.72 a share.

Revenues during the quarter were $9.7 billion, higher than the $7.22 billion that Wall Street had been expecting to see.

In addition to strong ad revenues, Google also has seen nice growth in revenues stemming from its highly successful mobile operating system, Android. Last year the company saw annual revenue of $1 billion from its mobile business, but says that it is currently on track for $2.5 billion as Android continues to gain in popularity and is now the #1 mobile operating system on the market.

Google also shed some light on the strength of its new social network, Google+. The company announced that it had 40 million users sign up with the service, with 3.4 billion photos being uploaded so far to the network. The numbers are greater than analysts had expected, and a good sign that Google is making some progress in its competition with social media giant Facebook.

The company also announced that it had added an additional 2,585 employees during the quarter, lifting its total workforce to 31,353.

Google’s dominance of the U.S. search market continues to grow. As of the end of last year, the company controlled 74% of U.S. searches, and by the end of this year that is expected to grow to 76%.

The stock is currently trading up $35.61 at $594.60 (+6.4%) in after hours trading.

Going into this afternoon’s earnings report, analysts had been expecting to see Alcoa post earnings of $0.22 per share, but were disappointed to see earnings come in under expectations at $0.15 per share.

Despite missing its earnings estimate, the company was able to post better than expected revenues for the quarter of $6.4 billion, above the $6.2 billion that analysts had been expecting to see.

Alcoa’s CEO, Klaus Kleinfeld, blamed the lower than expected earnings numbers on falling aluminum prices, and uncertainty in Europe, which resulted in a tough environment for the company. Despite the lower than expected earnings, the company did maintain its growth forecast for the remainder of the year.

Since Alcoa is the first major company to report earnings, and since it makes aluminum for a wide variety of industries, it is viewed as a bellwether stock, and investors tend to place a lot of importance on its earnings reports. Just because Alcoa disappointed this afternoon does not necessarily mean that the rest of the earnings season is going to be weak, but it definitely does not paint a pretty picture either. We will get a better idea of what to expect during the remainder of the earnings season later this week with JP Morgan and Google report their quarterly numbers.

The stock was up a little over 2% in today’s session, but has dropped 4.2% in after hours trading.

Ford Motor (NYSE: F) hit a new 52 week high today of 9.14 before afternoon profit taking came in and pushed shares lower. The stock has been very strong lately, and recently was considered to be the stock of the year from the writers of CrossingWallStreet. Shares finished the day down slightly at $8.94, down 0.45%.

Technology giant Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) also rose to a new 52 week high today. Shares of the company hit a day today of $30.14. Shares of MSFT finished today trading session up 0.4% to $30.11, just three pennies off its new 52 week high.

Gold prices continue to rise, and Yamaha Gold (NYSE: AUY) has been benefiting from the recent gold rush, setting a new 52 week high earlier in the session at 13.49. After hitting another new high today, the profit takers came in and sold the stock off a bit, which ended the day slightly lower at $13.15, down 0.23%. Gold prices rose as high as 1146.5 but closed down 70 cents to 1,140.5.

What are your favorite stocks right now? Which stocks do you see rising to new highs in the near future?

1. Gamestop (NYSE: GME): The video game retailer is due to report its third quarter numbers tomorrow morning before the opening bell. Analysts are expecting the company to show earnings of 30 cents per share. For the same period last year, the company had earnings of 34 cents per share. The stock is trading up 0.6% on the day.

2. Sears Holding (NASDAQ: SHLD): The retailer is going to be reporting its third quarter numbers tomorrow, and analysts are expecting to see a loss of $1.09. For the same period last year the company had a loss of 90 cents a share. The stock is trading down 1.2% on the day. The company will be reporting its numbers before the market opens.

3. Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS): The clothing retailer is going to be reporting its third quarter results tomorrow, and Wall Street is looking to see the company show 44 cents per share. For the same period last year the Gap had earnings of 35 cents per share. The stock is trading down 0.8% in today’s market.

A big day for retailers, and will give us a better view of just how strong the current recovery actually is.

The DOW closed the day up 0.7%, NASDAQ up 0.8% and the S&P rose 0.5%.

Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) reported fiscal fourth quarter earnings last night following the market close, and easily outpaced analyst estimates. Analysts had been expecting to see the company report 41 cents per share, but the actual report was much higher at 46 cents per share.

Retailer J.C. Penny (NYSE: JCP) reported third quarter earnings this morning that fell a penny short of analyst estimates, but fell in the upper range of the company’s earlier earnings forecast.

DIS stock traded up 4.8% on the day, while JCP gained 6.2% on the day.

Going into this afternoon’s earnings report, analysts had been expecting the company to post earnings of 41 cents per share. The company’s actual earnings came in higher, with a reported 47 cents per share.

For the same period last year the company had 40 cents in earnings.

Late day traders are pushing shares up 3% in after hours trading.

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) rose to a new 52 week high today of $125.68 and ended the session up 5.2% to 124.6399. The company is still riding high on last week’s solid earnings report. The company was expected to show earnings of 33 cents per share, but came in with a reported 45 cents.

RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) soared after posting strong third quarter earnings this morning. The stock finished the day up 15.9% on solid third quarter earnings, during which it earned 30 cents per share.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) ended the day in the red, but traded up to a new 52 week high earlier in the session of $35.78. The stock closed the day down 0.5% at $34.80.

TJX Companies (NYSE: TJX) started the week off strong, rising to a new 52 week high today of $40.64. The stock is moving higher following a report from Barron’s last week which estimated the stock could easily see another 15% price jump.

The first time that the DOW rose above the 10,000 mark was all the way back in 1999, and at that time investors celebrated, and drank champagne, but this time it was not so much a reason to celebrate as a reason to relax a bit, as Wall Street continues to claw its way back from the lows set in March of this year.

It has been an impressive run for the DOW, which is now up 53% from the lows it set earlier this year. The market had a good day on the back of strong earnings from Intel Corp. (NYSE: INTC) and JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM).

A few stocks that hit new 52 week highs today include:

• Intel Corp (NYSE: INTC): The company hit a high of $21.27 and closed the day up 1.6% at $20.83. The company reported 33 cents per share, which was higher than the 28 cents that analysts had been expecting to see.
• JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM): JP Morgan hit a high of $47.47 on the day, and closed the session up 3.3% to $47.16, up $1.50. The company reported earnings of 82 cents per share for its third quarter, above analyst estimates for 52 cents a share.
• EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC): EMC set a new 52 week high today after the stock was upgraded this morning by Thomas Weisel to Overweight from Market Weight, and the broker raised its price target on the stock to $24 from $15. The stock hit a new high of $18.33 and closed today’s trading up 1.3% to $18.16, up $0.24.

Other big names hitting new highs today were Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), Wyeth (NYSE: WYE), Merck (NYSE: MRK), and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS).

For the week, the DOW was up 4%, with the Nasdaq and S&P both up an impressive 4.5%.

We got a couple pieces of good news today. The Commerce Department noted that the trade deficit fell by 3.6%, and we also got news that first time jobless claims fell last week to their lowest levels since January.

Major stocks hitting new 52 week highs were: Cisco Systems (CSCO), International Business Machines (IBM), Brocade (BRCD), Target (TGT), Schering Plough (SGP) and Pier One (PIR).

Today also marks the two year anniversary of the DOW’s all-time closing high of 14,165 on Oct. 9, 2007.