The Dow Jones industrial average touched a key psychological milestone yesterday, entering the five-figure territory, as some upbeat earnings reports spurred hopes that the economy is ambling towards normalcy.  Investors looking for signs of an economic rebound cheered Intel and JP Morgan’s better-than-expected quarterly results even as strong retail sales numbers signaled consumer spending was beginning to rebound.

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average jumped 144.80 points, or 1.5%, to 10,015.86, its biggest one-day gain since August 21 and highest close since October 3 last year.  The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 18.83 points, or 1.8%, to 1,092.02, it new 2009 high.  The Nasdaq composite index surged 32.34 points, or 1.5%, to 2,172.23.  Since hitting their 12-year lows in March of this year, the S&P 500 has jumped more than 61% as of Wednesday's close, and the Dow is up 53%.

Amid an improving global economic sentiment,

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Stocks meandered at the start as uncertainty over the quarterly results this week kept investors from building positions.  Jittery investors, wanting to see more sings of an economic revival, sold off financial stocks after influential analyst Meredith Whitney downgraded shares of Goldman Sachs.  Whitney also lowered her earnings outlook for Bank of America and Citigroup.  Although late morning saw some strength, stocks struggled to stay afloat and ended the day mixed.   

Gains in commodity prices helped some mid-session buying in energy and material shares but the overall weakness in financial and healthcare stocks kept sentiment in check.  Shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH) and Aetna Inc. (NYSE:AET) fell more than 3% as the Senate Finance Committee approved an $829 billion plan to overhaul the U.S. health system.  Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) fell 2.4% after the company reported revenue that was below the Street expectations.  However, the company reported higher

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Although investors appeared hesitant and positioned themselves ahead of corporate earnings reports, the Dow Jones industrial average inched closer to the 10,000-level before some afternoon weariness saw indexes sinking sharply.  At the end of the session that was characterized by slow trading, the Dow managed to notch up some gains to remain in contention for the 10,000 mark – a level it last breached nearly a fortnight after Lehman’s fateful collapse in September 2008. 

The Dow Jones industrial average, which rose as high as 9931.82 points in the morning, gained 20 points to close at 9885.80.  The broad S&P 500 index rose 4.70 points, or 0.44%, to close at 1,076.19 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day little changed.  Bond markets were closed for the Columbus Day holiday.  On the New York Stock Exchange, 16 stocks were higher in price for every 14 that fell.

Eight of the ten

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• Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) beat Street estimates, posting second quarter earnings of $1.15 per share, ex-items, four cents ahead of expectations, versus $1.18 a year ago, on revenues of $15.2 billion

• Fastenal (NASDAQ:FAST) reported second quarter earnings miss at 29 cents per share, 4 pennies off Street estimates of 33 cents, as revenues fell short of the $487.10 million target, posting at $474.9 million

• Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) warned of gross margin pressure in the second quarter, likely to generate only slight sequential revenue gains versus estimates of 1.6% growth.  Although asserting stabilization in its IT product demand y/y, the firm stated profits were affected by "the result of higher component costs, a competitive pricing environment, and an unfavorable mix of product and business-segment demand"

• CSX (NYSE:CSX) reported better-than-expected earnings of 72 cents a share from continuing operations, a dime ahead of estimates, versus 95 cents a year ago, despite a

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The first of the major railroads, a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=csx"CSX/a, a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/CSX-2Q-profit-falls-20-apf-3069938868.html?x=0amp;.v=8"reported last night/a. I like to look to railroads for a accurate representation of the broad economy, and CSX beat expectations. br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"-Railroad operator CSX said Monday that second-quarter earnings fell 20 percent as it collected fewer fuel surcharges and shipments continued to drop./spanbr /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"-The results still topped Wall Street's expectations, as the company slashed expenses by 27 percent./spanbr /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"-The Jacksonville, Fla.-based company, which runs its signature blue and yellow locomotives from Canada to Florida and west to the Mississippi River, said Monday it earned $308 million, or 78 cents per share, compared with $385 million, or 93 cents a share, last year./spanbr /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"-Revenue fell 25 percent to $2.19 billion./spanbr /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"-CSX's shipping volume fell 21 percent in the period, compared with 22 percent industrywide. ...

Global stock markets continued their slide Monday as waning optimism about a stronger economic turnaround continued to weigh on sentiments.  Investors remained in risk-averse mode and sold stocks across the board.  In Asia, the Nikkei 225 stock average recorded its ninth straight loss, tumbling 236.95 points or 2.6% to 9,050.33.  The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong plunged 453.79 points, or 2.6%, to 17,254.63 and South Korea’s Kospi shed 50 points, or 3.5%, to 1,378.12.  

On Friday, US stocks registered their fourth-straight week of declines as a dip in consumer confidence and Chevron’s (NYSE:CVX) bleak profit outlook highlighted concerns about the health of the global economy.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 37 points, or 0.4%. Tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 3 points or 0.2% and the S&P 500 index eased 3 points or 0.4%.  Volume remained light with only 922 million shares trading and advancing issues ahead of decliners by

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - July 7, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: CSX (CSX), Norfolk Southern (NSC), Burlington Northern (BNI), Union Pacific (UNP) and Sanofi-Aventis (SNY).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Monday's Analyst Blog:

Trainspotting

In looking for an economic recovery, one of the things to be looking at is rail traffic. While an increasing part of the economic output of the country (and the world) moves electronically, there is still a very important role for, to use a technical term, "stuff."

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In looking for an economic recovery, one of the things to be looking at is rail traffic. While an increasing part of the economic output of the country (and the world) moves electronically, there is still a very important role for, to use a technical term, "stuff." So far, nobody has figured out how to move a ton of coal or wheat over a fiber optic line.Granted the "stuff" that moves on the rails is mostly lower value, but it is also at the base of the economic pyramid. In short, if stuff is not moving on the railroads, then the economy is not moving forward.The volume of traffic is important for the information it provides about the economy as a whole, not just because it gives insight into what the earnings are going to be for the major railroads like CSX (...

* Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) halved its iPhone price to $99, and also slashed prices on products including notebook computers. A faster model iPhone was also introduced

* McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) posted comparable sales numbers for May of 5.1%, which failed to equal April's 6.9% advance

* Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) downgraded shares of Burlington Northern (NYSE:BNI), and raised CSX (NYSE:CSX)

* Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) downgraded shares of Nucor (NYSE:NUE)

* Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) will present at the Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) convergence conference

* Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) will present at the UBS (NYSE:UBS) Tech and Service conference at 12:45 PM ET

* Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) and Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) are due to present at the Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) global consumer and Food Retail Group

Zacks Investment Research

Chris Mayer with the Penny Sleuth says that railroad executives have been pretty confident in their ability to continue to raise prices on their customers in the middle of a recession - making these two buffet-backed railroad stocks attractive buys.

The Financial Times led off one headline column this week thundering:

“The world economy will this year suffer its worst performance for more than 60 years with a serious risk that 50 million people will lose their jobs, international organizations warned yesterday.”

The consensus has gelled. Now it’s just a matter of who can come up with more staggering figures. The IMF says global output will fall for the first time since the World War II. And 50 million are a lot of people.

Where to invest is the question. In pockets of strength is one answer. Where might these be?

Warren Buffett likes railroads and recently upped his stake in

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