Consumer Confidence Plummets, CAKE Rises, Yahoo Advances

U.S. stock indexes closed down today after climbing earlier. The DJIA gave back -34.36 to 11808, the Nasdaq declined -17.45 to 2368.28 and the S&P 500 fell -3.71 to 1314.29. The Consumer Confidence figure fell to the lowest in 16 years and falling housing prices added fuel to the decline.

The Cheesecake Factory (CAKE | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) climbed 6.40% or $1.05 to $17.46/share after an analyst upgrade from a “hold” to a “buy”.

Yahoo! (YHOO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) - A technology blog stated that buyout talks with Microsoft have resumed triggering a 2.52% or $0.55 increase in its shares. Yahoo closed at $22.00 on the news.

United Parcel Service (UPS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) dropped 6.02% or $3.99 to $62.27/share after lowering its 2nd quarter forecast due to rising fuel costs and general economic malaise.

Eastman Kodak Co. (EK | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) climbed the most in 21 years after the leading photography company approved a billion dollar stock buyback program. The stock added 13.61% or $1.68 to $14.02/share on the announcement.

Housing prices dropped 15.3% in April per the Case-Shiller Index, Oil added $0.30 to $137.04/barrel and the VIX slipped .97% to 22.42.