The intense media hype leading up this past weekend's Hurricane Irene spread panic up the east coast, but luckily the damage was much less than had been anticipated, which was win-win situation for insurance companies. Insurance companies win on one hand because they will have to pay out less in damages than they had anticipated, but they also win because the media hype was enough to give them an opportunity to ...

It's a positive day for the overall market, and several big name stocks are riding the positivity to hit new 52 week highs in today's session. Here are a few stocks that have traded up to new 52 week highs: Frontier Oil Corporation (FTO) : The stock hit a new 52 week high today of $29.47, and is currently trading up 3.2% to $29.47, up $0.91. Oil prices are up $0.65 ...

The market is poised for another positive day as investors react to revised GDP numbers which show that the economy grew faster than previously thought at the end of last year. According to the Commerce Department, the economy grew at 3.1% during the fourth quarter, which is higher than analysts had been expecting to see. Going into today's report analysts had been expecting to see revised GDP output of 3.0%. Last month ...

Lost of stocks hitting new 52 week highs today with the DOW being up 0.4%, and the NASDAQ up 0.7%. Here are a couple of the stocks that traded up to new highs today: Motorola (MOT) currently up 1.4% and hit new 52 week high of $9.05, currently trading at $9.01. Qualcomm (QCOM) currently up 1.0% to $49.94 and hit 52 week high of $49.98. Procter & Gamble (PG) hit a new 52 week ...

The earnings season continues to move along, and a couple big stocks are going to be reporting their earnings tomorrow. Here are a few of the stocks that are going to report earnings tomorrow: DuPont (DD) : DuPont is going to be reporting its first quarter numbers tomorrow. Analysts have forecast earnings of $1.06, verses $0.54 during the same period last year. The company will be announcing earnings before the market ...

Some big name stocks set new 52 week highs today. Here are some of the stocks that were able to set new highs to head into the weekend: 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 ...

Some big names got upgraded this morning. Here are a couple of the stocks that were upgraded today: Yahoo (YHOO) : Yahoo was upgraded this morning by EVA Dimensions, LLC to Hold from Underweight. The stock is trading up 0.7% following the upgrade to $17.58, up $0.13 J. Crew Group, Inc. (JCG) : The stock was upgraded today by EVA Dimensions, LLC today to Overweight from Hold. The stock is trading up ...

Some more big name companies are going to take their turn reporting earnings tomorrow. Here are a couple of the stocks to keep an eye out for tomorrow when they report earnings: Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) : Following tomorrow's market close, online auction giant Amazon is going to report its first quarter results. Analysts are forecasting earnings of $0.61 per share, verses $0.41 during the same period last year. American Express Co. (AXP) ...

Shares of tech giant Apple Computer (AAPL) rose to a new all time high today after the company shattered analyst estimates for its fiscal second quarter. 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 ...

A couple of big name stocks picked up broker upgrades today. Here are a few of the companies that were upgraded this morning: Exxon Mobil (XOM) : Exxon was upgraded by Raymond James today to Outperform from Market Perform Dell Computer (DELL) : Dell was upgraded by Robert W. Baird & Co. to Outperform from Neutral Kroger (KR) : Kroger was upgraded by EVA Dimensions, LLC today to Buy from Overweight