Market Closes Strong

The stock market closed with $119 ($119.23) in gains today. A lot of stocks did well, even though some stocks didn't go anywhere. Cough, cough, CITIGROUP. Also Apple had $1.50 in losses. However, GE (General Electric) and RIMM (Research In Motion) had gains. I'm mentioning these stocks because I think they are great investments. Well except for Citigroup, it's been playing around too much. Bank Of America, unfortunately, caught the same virus as Citigroup. And Disney had gains today too. In fact, Disney went up $.63. All of these stocks combined added to the gains and declines in the market today.

Stock Market Takes A Plunge

Today the stock market was down about 290 points (289.60). Many different sectors and company's contributed in the stock market decline. Except for Sun Microsystems. Oracle pulled a fast one on the market by buying Sun Microsystems. Once that happen Sun Microsystems stock shot up two dollars. Now keep in mind, IBM has been in talks to buy Sun Microsystems for about a month now. But Oracle just snatched Sun Microsystems up, surprising the whole market. And why did bank stocks contribute to the stock market decline?
Bank Of America is a good example. Bank Of America shattered quarter one earning estimates. They reported a $0.44 earnings per share versus $0.03 estimated earnings per share. And Bank Of America reported $4.2 billion net income. Net income is: the income that a firm has after subtracting costs and expenses from the total revenue. Last year in the first quarter, Bank Of America reported $0.23 earnings per share. However, with all of this information, Bank Of America declined $2.58 and closed at $8.02. But Bank Of America wasn't the only company that declined.

The whole stock market took a fall. Every stock that I watch was down. I think when Bank Of America opened down the stock market fell immediately. I think this happen because Bank Of America's earnings were great. Then when the news came about Oracle buying Sun Microsystems and the stock market kept falling. If I was on the floor at the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange), I would wonder what happened today. Why wasn't anybody informed about Oracle and Sun Microsystems negotiations? Why did Bank Of America go down even though they reported great earnings? And why did the stock market decline?