It was a day of mixed economic and earnings reports Monday but markets held on to gains and edged up slightly as shares seesawed through the session.  Although sentiments got a boost after data showed a surprise rise in new home sales, trading remained subdued as some weaker earnings reports and lowered guidance kept investors on the sidelines. 

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 15.27 points, or 0.2%, to 9,108.51 and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index edged up 2.92 points, or 0.3%, at 982.18.  The Nasdaq rose 0.1% or 1.93 points, at 1,967.89.  Treasuries declined as the government began a record auction of $115 billion in notes. Yield on the benchmark 10-year jumped to 3.72%.  On the NYSE, 1.04 billion shares exchanged hands and advancing issues outpaced decliners by a two-to-one margin.     

Lowered guidance from Aetna (NYSE:AET) and Honeywell (NYSE:HON) were digested by investors as offsetting those

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* Sony (NYSE:SNE) announced plans to cut its supplier network by 50% over the next two years, citing dwindling global electronic sales.  The company aims to save $5.3 billion through the move

* Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) CEO Schmidt said the company has no plans to buy a newspaper.  Although, Schmidt  opined DreamWorks co-founder Geffen would be an "excellent owner" of the NYT

* Hormel (NYSE:HRL) reported earnings of 59 cents a share, beating estimates by 9 cents per share, on revenues of $1.6 billion.  The company said it expects full-year earnings of $2.15 to $2.25 per share, versus Street expectations of $2.24

* Brocade Communications Systems (NASDAQ:BRCD) reported better-than-expected fiscal second quarter earnings of 11 cents per share, beating estimates by 2 cents, as revenues jumped 42.7% year-over-year to $506 million, compared with Street estimates of $476 million

* Target (NYSE:TGT) received an upgrade from UBS (NYSE:UBS), with a price target increase to $52 from

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Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT): Stock of the Day

by Ted Leinbach, Research Team, The Oxford Club 

When the New York Stock Exchange needed a computer operating system to handle its vast amount of daily transactions, it did not look to the perennial tech-bellwethers like Apple or Google.

Instead, the exchange had a much better company in mind, one whose technology is stronger and more efficient. And one whose technology is “crash-proof”.  

You see, the NYSE simply can’t run on a program like Microsoft Windows. Why? According to this company’s President and CEO Jim Whitehurst, “It crashes too often.”

That’s why the New York Stock Exchange selected Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT). Headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, Red Hat is the largest provider of Linux software and is the most recognized open brand source in the world.

The company serves global enterprises with technology

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Kodak Announces $1 Billion Buyback; Kroger Lowers Prices, Posts Profit; BP Breaks Ground on Wind Farm; Reliance and Dreamworks in Talks; Lukoil Joins Up With Italy’s ERG; Wachovia Brings in Goldman Sachs; Dow Hikes Prices; Yahoo and Microsoft Back in Talks Shares of Eastman Kodak Co. (EK) rose the most in 20 years as it boldly announced it will buyback $1 billion of its stock using a tax refund. The refund comes from an audit of the company’s taxes from 1993 to 1998, Bloomberg reported. The company posted a first-quarter loss in April. Kroger Co. (KR), the largest chain of U.S. grocery stores, beat analysts’ first-quarter earnings by lowering prices on the shelves and offering gasoline discounts, Reuters reported. The Cincinnati-based company Kroger posted a profit of $386 million, or 58 cents per share, compared with a profit ...