CLOSING BELL

Dow 10308.26  -132.86, Nasdaq 2180.05  -26.86, S&P 1096.08  -13.10,

The markets sold off today on a rally in the dollar against foreign currencies and weakness in the financial sector.  The dollar gained 1.1% against other currencies after S&P downgraded Greece’s debt to BBB+ from A- and traders decided to lock in profits for the year.  This led gold and commodities prices to fall today.  

The Financial sector fell 1.8% today after Citigroup’s (C) 3.20 -0.25 stock offering was priced at 3.15 a 9% discount to the previous day’s close.  

The led the Federal Reserve to put off selling their $5 billion dollar stake in the company.

Also pressuring Financials was analyst Meredith Whitney, when she lowered her earnings outlook on both Goldman Sachs (GS) 160.93 -4.06 and Morgan Stanley (MS) 29.12 -1.22.

FedEx (FDX) 84.47 -5.48 (-5.61%) announced earnings the beat the streets estimates coming in at 1.10, the street had estimated earnings of 1.06.  But traders were disappointed with the company’s guidance going 

forward.

Research In Motion (RIMM) 63.46 -1.21 The maker of Blackberry cell phones reported earnings of 1.10.  Analyst had estimated earnings of only 0.69.  The 59 percent increase in third-quarter income was boosted by new subscribers and record sales of its smart phones.  Shares surged more than 12% in after-hours trading.

Accenture PLC (ACN) 41.66 -0.18 reported earnings of 0.67 which beat estimates of 0.65.  The company future guidance was mixed.  The company raised their full year earnings to 2.67-2.75 per share, above estimates of 2.64-2.72 citing improving momentum.  The company did say it expects their second quarter revenues to come in below Wall Street’s estimates.  Shares were down 2.40% in the after hours.

Nike (NKE) 63.25 -0.80 reported better than expected earnings on cost cutting, streamlining operations and reduced marketing.  The company reported earnings of 0.76, traders were looking for earnings of only 0.71.  Nike shares rose 3.3% in afterhours trading.

For the eighth consecutive month, the Conference Board's Leading Indicators Index posted positive growth.  The index jumped 0.9% in November after increasing only 0.3% in October. Economists expected the index to increase 0.7%.  The index has now overtaken its July 2007 peak and signals a strong recovery in 2010. 

For the second consecutive week, new unemployment claims moved higher. The advance figure for initial claims for the week ending Dec. 12 increased 7,000 to 480,000.  Economists expected the figure to decline by 8,000 to 465,000.  The increase in initial claims shows that the labor sector is still strained.

The Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook rose to 20.4 in December from 16.7 in November. Economist had forecast the index would increase to 17.5.  The index has remained positive for five consecutive months and signals continued growth in the manufacturing sector.