siri

Over the past five years, shares of what is now Sirius XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) have declined from a high of $9 per share to their current price of less than 50 cents per share. Granted, most of that hasn't been CEO Mel Karmazin's fault, and he was able to stave off bankruptcy by engineering an 11th-hour loan from Liberty Media.

But still, is that really a track record that entitles the CEO to a raise? Mr. Karmazin's salary went from $1.25 million to $1.5 million, but that isn't even the worst part. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports that "He also gets options to purchase 120 million shares, which he can exercise at 43 cents a share."

Despite us being on the heels of the big Russell indexes changing and despite the quarter-end being a day away, this was a boring day. A study showed a small decrease in online job advertisements, but that was the only item on the economic front. Oil traded higher and bond yields came down as traders are voting for more stability the rest of the year there.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,531.19 +92.80 (1.10%)
S&P 500 927.18 +8.28 (0.90%)
Nasdaq 1,843.34 +5.12 (0.28%)

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Today was not just a strange day in the market. It was nearly baffling. At least it was a strange day if you were looking for the pullbacks to continue. The market was looking lower as the double-dip jobless numbers got worse than expected again, despite final Q1 GDP revisions being less-bad. The quarter-end coming up and the Russell re-balance may have some impact here.

Most of the gains continued throughout the morning into the early afternoon as investors got more confident over Ben Bernanke's testimony strength. Here were the unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,475.57 +175.71 (2.12%)
S&P 500 920.28 +19.34 (2.15%)
Nasdaq 1,829.43 +37.09 (2.07%)

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Equities stabilized today after two relatively large selling waves in equities. It even looks like we only had a 1% trading range in the DJIA from top to bottom today. The housing data might have helped marginally, but that was actually negative data if you dig down into the numbers.

The hope for a return to growth is starting to see a bit of what may be reality setting in now that even Mr. Obama expects double-digit unemployment to become a reality. It seems that the rise in oil actually helped to keep equities higher. Here are today's closing bell levels:

Dow 8,322.46 -16.55 (-0.20%)
S&P 500 894.99 +1.95 (0.22%)
Nasdaq 1,764.92 -1.27 (-0.07%)

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Today was one of those market days where you just felt like the stock market was headed lower no matter what. A report from the World Bank showing lower recovery is expected in 2009 and in 2010 did not help. It took the sails out of the commodity sector and therefore out of stocks.

With little economic data to center on, traders just continued the momentum of selling to take profits. We are also seeing a reversal here where now the market needs great news to rally.

Here are today's closing bell levels:

Dow 8,339.01 -200.72 (-2.35%)
S&P 500 893.04 -28.19 (-3.06%)
Nasdaq 1,766.19 -61.28 (-3.35%)

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The radio business has been struggling lately, to say the least. Traditional, terrestrial radio hasn't found a way to successfully box out competition from Sirius XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI), internet streaming radio, iPods, and other sources.

Plus fewer people are in their cars driving to work lately, so the ratings numbers are down. Not to mention the monotonous nature of much of today's music (or maybe I'm just old . . . get off my lawn, you Jonas Brothers, you!)

It's no surprise, then, that the radio advertising business recently saw its worst quarter in history. The Radio Advertising Bureau said yesterday that combined national and local ad spending dropped 26% to $2.8 billion during the last quarter. Network radio dropped 13% to $238 million while off-air revenue receded 12% to $264 million.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) shares rose even though it reported a wider loss for the quarter.
• American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) posted better-than-expected Q1 results but warned of challenges.
• Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) reported a net loss and slumping revenues for the first quarter.
• Center Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: CLFC) was downgraded following its Q1 earnings report.
• Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) posted lower Q3 earnings that still topped analysts estimates.

Fed Chairman Bernanke gave an outline of regulation for banks and financial institutions today, and the weekly jobless claims gave some hope that tomorrow's unemployment might come in under expectations. There is a "sell the news" mentality that is going around ahead of the stress test and there was some tech profit taking after John Chambers was less optimistic. It looks like at least some profit taking is actually possible to see again.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,376.64 -135.64 (-1.59%)
S&P 500 907.28 -12.25 (-1.33%)
Nasdaq 1,716.24 -42.86 (-2.44%)

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Today's late-day rally had a common theme throughout the day: less-bad economic data. This went from better housing data and CPI not showing any deflation fears. The Beige Book was also showing that some of the 12 Fed regions are seeing a decline in the slowdown. Here are today's unofficial closing levels, which were essentially around the highs of the day:

Dow 8,029.62 +109.44 (1.38%)
S&P 500 852.06 +10.56 (1.25%)
Nasdaq 1,626.80 +1.08 (0.07%)

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Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) may get a bit of a lift this morning, as the company's corporate credit rating was raised by Standard & Poor's (S&P). The ratings agency upped SIRI's rating to "CCC+" from "CCC" and raised the issue-level ratings a notch. That said, S&P did keep SIRI's senior unsecured notes at "CCC-."

S&P analyst Hal Diamond attributed the move to "increased comfort with the company's near-term liquidity needs," following a loan from Liberty Media. Liberty loaned SIRI money in exchange for preferred stock, which is convertible into 40% of SIRI's common shares. This investment pushed significant debt maturities from 2009 to 2011.

It felt hard enough to milk out a two-day rally when you looked over the numbers yesterday. Now we have a 3-day rally. Gnarly jobless claims were swept under the table despite the notion that we now have over 5.3 million adults on the continued jobless claims.

The retail sales data was enough of a boost, and the data on things not being as bad at the financials helped even further. Trading volume still feels light, but at least everyone's retirement accounts have gone up. After all, it still feels good to see broad-based rallies. Here are today's closing bell levels:

Dow 7,170.06 +239.66 (3.46%)
S&P 500 750.74 +29.38 (4.07%)
Nasdaq 1,426.10 +54.46 (3.97%)

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Today ended up on an unofficial closing bell basis (official DJIA level may change as late as 4:30), but that was not the case all day and the "win" felt more mixed than like another consecutive rally.

But a win is a win no matter how sloppy it gets. The US Deficit has reached a record $765 billion in just five months. And here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 6,930.40 +3.91 (0.06%)
S&P 500 721.36 +1.76 (0.24%)
Nasdaq 1,371.64 +13.36 (0.98%)

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Today was one of those strange Friday sessions where you just never felt stable. Interestingly enough, the 8.1% unemployment rate ended up moving the market up briefly, but only briefly. Most of the day was spent in red numbers with a rally that brought the markets back to a flat close.

The focus is still on what is coming out of Washington D.C. and just how long and how deep this recession is going to be.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 6,626.94 +32.50 (+0.49%)
S&P 500 683.39 +0.84 (+0.12%)
Nasdaq 1,293.85 -5.74 (-0.44%)
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With Sirius XM Radio, Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) shares hovering around 13 cents mid-morning, the pioneering and sole satellite radio company is probably savoring its investment this week by John Malone's Liberty Media Corp. (NYSE: LINTA).

What was the reason for today's sell-off? Well, the answer is the same as it has been too many days: A culmination of bad news, weak data, bankruptcies, worries about banks and institutions, and that this recession is going to go on much longer than what the market is hoping for.

You might see the same explanation tomorrow if there is another sell-off. And next week. It is the same one from January and the same one from most of last year. Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 7,554.28 -296.13 (-3.77%)
S&P 500 789.35 -37.49 (-4.53%)
Nasdaq 1,470.66 -63.70 (-4.15%)

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