Stocks Wrap Up Best January in Many Years

Stocks ended a strong January on a mixed note, following some mixed economic and earnings reports. It was the S&P's best start to the year since 1997. Over in Europe, Portugal got its time in the spotlight today, as its two-year bond yields topped a record 21%. The market, meanwhile, formed its golden cross today, which is a strong bullish technical indicator; however, when January is very strong, the market also has a tendency to pull back.

The Rare Earth Stocks Index was the top performing tickerspy Index on the day, led by Rare Element Resources (AMEX: REE - News) with a 20% gain. The Electronics Retailer Stocks Index was the day's worst performing tickerspy Index, with RadioShack (NYSE: RSH - News) down -30%.

Stocks ended the day mixed, with the Dow closing -21 points lower to 12,633. The S&P gave back -1 point to close at 1,312, while the Nasdaq added 2 points to 2,814. Oil slipped -30 cents to $98.48 a barrel, while gold rose $6.80 to $1,737.80 an ounce.

In economic news, the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city composite home index dropped -3.7% in November 2011 from November 2010. Month-over-month, the index was down -0.7%. Economists had expected a yearly decline of -3.5% and a month-over-month drop of -0.5%. Elsewhere, the Conference Board said today that its Consumer Confidence Index was at 61.1 for January, compared with a revised 64.8 in December.

In earnings news, Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM - News), the largest U.S. oil company, said its fourth-quarter profit rose to $9.4 billion, or $1.97 per share, from $9.25 billion, or $1.85 per share, a year earlier as revenue increased 16% to $121.6 billion. Profit at Exxon's exploration and production business increased 18%, while the company's downstream operations saw profits fall -63%. Shares of Exxon fell -2.1%. Nearly 940 pros held Exxon Mobil in their portfolios at the end of Q4 and over 3,240 tickerspy members own the stock in their portfolios.

Package delivery firm United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS - News) reported that its fourth-quarter profit fell to $725 million, or 74 cents a share, from $1.025 billion, or $1.02 a share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, UPS earned $1.28 a share, topping the $1.26 analysts had expected. Revenue for the quarter was $14.2 billion, missing the $14.4 billion analyst forecast. The company forecast a fiscal 2012 profit of $4.75-$5.00 per share. Analysts were expecting EPS of $4.80. Shares of UPS fell -0.7%. Nearly 80 pros held UPS in their portfolios at the end of Q4 and almost 550 tickerspy members own the stock in their portfolios.

Shares of Align Technology (Nasdaq: ALGN - News) plunged -7.2% after the company said it expects a first-quarter profit of 19-21 cents a share on revenue of $125.4-$127.9 million. Analysts were expecting EPS of 22 cents on revenue of $129.2 million. The maker of Invisalign posted a fourth-quarter profit of $20.4 million, or 25 cents per share, up from $9.9 million, or 13 cents per share, a year ago. Adjusted EPS was 28 cents. Revenue jumped 39% to $128.9 million. Analysts had expected a profit of 22 cents on revenue of $127.7 million.

Shares of RadioShack tumbled -29.8% after the electronics retailer warned its Q4 earnings would fall well short of estimates. The company now expects to report Q4 EPS of 11-13 cents a share, well below the 37 cents analysts were expecting. The company also halted its share buyback program.

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