Going into this morning earnings report, analysts had been expecting to see Procter & Gamble report earnings of $0.97 per share. Actual quarterly earnings came in a penny under analyst forecasts at $0.96 per share.

In addition to posting slightly lower than expected Q3 earnings, Procter & Gamble also lowered its full year forecast as the company continues to deal with rising costs.

Run up costs in materials and fuel is forcing the company to raise its prices on several of its biggest name products including Pampers, Gillete Razors, Charmin toilet tissue, as well as Duracell batteries. Certain parts of the country will see the price increases in effect by July.

Sales were in-line with analyst estimates at $20.2 billion during the quarter.

Full the full year, the company cut its top end estimate by 5 cents to a range of $3.91 to $3.96 per share.

The stock has been severely lagging against of the overall Dow Jones average which is up around 15% over the past year. During the same period PG stock is up just 1%.

The stock initially fell following this morning’s report, but have since rebounded a bit and is currently trading up 0.4% to $64.29.

Going into this morning’s first quarter earnings report, analysts had been expecting to see State Street report earnings of $0.85 per share, but actual earnings came in above estimates at $0.88 per share.

During the same period last year the company had earnings of $0.75.

Revenues during the quarter were $2.36 billion, versus analyst estimates for $2.29 billion.

Assets under management rose 7.7% year over year to $2.1 trillion.

Going into tomorrow’s earnings report, analysts are expecting to see Carmax report earnings of $0.38 per share. During the same period last year the company had earnings of $0.33.

Carmax has a strong history of posting better than expected earnings… easily surpassing analyst estimates for each of its past 8 quarters.

Over the past month the stock had been in steady downward trend, but has traded up slightly higher over the past week after the stock was upgraded by Robert W. Baird & Co. to Outperform from Neutral, and raised its price target on the stock to $40 from $38.

Even with its move higher over the past week, the stock is still well below where it was trading in mid-February, so there is still plenty of room for the stock to trade higher should it report its 9th consecutive quarter of better than expected earnings.

KMX stock closed Wednesday’s trading session up 1.9% to $34.59, up $0.64.

Shares of Caterpillar are up 4.5% on the day to $71.91, up $3.13 following better than expected results this morning before the market opened.

Analysts were forecasting $0.39 per share, and the company easily outpaced those estimates with a reported $0.50 per share.

Revenues were a bit shy of analyst estimates, but the stock is surging after it raised its forecast for full year 2010 to $2.50 to $3.25 a share, up from its previous forecast of $2.50 per share.

S&P boosted its price target on the stock to $80 a share, and maintained its Buy rating on the company.

The company noted that the global economy is definitely improving, and as a result construction has been rebounding. This helped pushed the overall market higher today, with the DOW up over 25 points in afternoon trading.

• Microsoft (MSFT) : Tech giant Microsoft set a new 52 week high today, trading up to $31.58 before closing the trading session down 1.4% on the day to $30.96, down $0.43. The company posted better than expected fiscal Q3 earnings last night following the market close.
• Apple Computer (AAPL) : Apple continues to trade strongly following better than expected earnings earlier this week. The stock hit a new all time high today of $272.18. The stock finished out the session up 1.6% to $270.83, up $4.36.
• Home Depot (HD) : Home improvement giant Home Depot set a new 52 week high today. The stock traded as high as $36.44 and closed the session just under its daily high at $36.39, up $0.67 or 1.9%. Home Depot will not be reporting its earnings until mid May.
• American Express (AXP) : Financial giant American Express set a new 52 week high today of $49.19. The stock closed the day up 2.7% at $48.05, up $1.28. The company posted better than expected earnings Thursday night, reporting $0.73 per share, verses analyst estimates for $0.63.

As we noted in our earnings preview for Apple, analysts had forecast earnings of $2.45 per share, and the company blew past those estimates with a reported $3.33.

Once again the company got a big boost from iPhone sales, with 8.7 million new iPhones sold during the quarter, more than double the amount of iPhones sold last year.

Looking ahead Apple expects to earn $2.28 to $2.39 per share for its current quarter.

Apple stock is up 5.6% on the day to $258.28, up $13.69 and hit a new all time high today at $260.25.

Wal Mart will be reporting its fourth quarter numbers, with analysts expecting to see the retail giant post earnings of $1.12 per share. During the same period last year the company had earnings of $1.03 per share. The numbers will be coming out before the market opens in the morning.

Dell Computer is going to be reporting its fourth quarter numbers tomorrow afternoon following the market close. Analysts are forecasting the company to report earnings of 27 cents per share, slightly lower than the 29 cents a share that it reported during the same period last year. The company last reported earnings back on November 19 when it was unable to match analyst estimates.

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.

The DOW closed the session down 0.67%, the NASDAQ ended the day down 0.76%, while the S&P slipped by 0.8%.

General Electric started off the day off on a bad note when the company reported revenues that came up short of analyst estimates. GE was able to outpace analyst estimates for its earnings in the third quarter by posting 23 cents per share verse analyst estimates of 20 cents per share, but that was not enough to outweigh its missed revenues. The company reported $37.8 billion in revenues verse analyst estimates for $40.3 billion. Shares of GE closed the day down 4.2% to $16.08, down $0.71 on the day and wiping out $7.5 billion in market capitalization.

Bank of America was expected to show a loss for its third quarter of 21 cents per share, but the actual numbers came in worse than expected with a 26 cent loss in the quarter. The stock was hit hard today following the report, with shares falling 4.6% to $17.26, down $0.84 on the day.

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New 52 Week Highs:

There were several big name stocks that were able to set new 52 week highs today, despite the down market and include the following; Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), and Mattel (NYSE: MAT).

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Analyst upgrades and downgrades:

Stocks upgraded today include:

• Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) upgraded by Caris to Buy from Above Average with $27 price target
• Safeway (NYSE: SWY) upgraded by Kevin Dann to Buy from Neutral and boosted its price target on the stock to $27 from $19 per share.
• Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) received an upgrade today by Benchmark Co. to a Buy from Hold, while lifting its price target on the stock to $625 from $500.

Stocks downgraded today include:

• Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) downgraded by Caris to Above Average from Buy with a $56 price target on the stock.
• Nokia (NYSE: NOK) downgraded by Gabelli to Hold from Buy.