24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (GE, YHOO, YUM, MO, AVP, GRPN, JOY, SYNO, ADBE, DFS, FDX, FSLR, AVP, EONC, SGI, SPWR, RVSN)

Equity markets started the day down and stayed there all day. Traders were mirroring the action on European and Asian markets, which all settled down before the US markets opened this morning. Falling crude oil prices led most commodities down, but had a favorable impact on airlines stocks that may not have to pay so much for fuel next month. A record low yield on 30-year Treasury bonds pushed stock prices up slightly in the afternoon, but the effect was short lived. WTI crude oil is down more than -5% at $94.93/barrel, and Brent crude oil is also down nearly -4.7% at 104.81/barrel. Gold is down more than -5% at $1,576.40, and looks to settle at its lowest point since mid-July.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down nearly 132 points to 11,823.48 (-1.1%), the NASDAQ fell nearly 40 points (-1.55%) to 2,539.31, and the S&P 500 fell -1.13% or nearly 14 points to 1,211.82.  So far this week, the indexes have closed lower every day.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including General Electric (NYSE: GE) reiterated as ‘outperform’ with the target price raised to $22 at Credit Suisse. Other ratings actions today include Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) restarted as ‘sell’ at Goldman Sachs; Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) reiterated as ‘buy’ and target price raised to $60 at Argus; Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) cut to ‘hold’ at Stifel Nicolaus; and Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) raised to ‘outperform’ at BMO Capital. Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) received ratings from a slew of analysts this morning, and the results are in our full ratings coverage.

Here are today’s post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Joy Global Inc. (NYSE: JOY) is down nearly -11% at $75.54 and Synovis Life Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNO) is up 0.2% at $27.83. Synovis received a buyout offer yesterday at $28/share from Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX). Tomorrow’s big earnings releases come from Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE), Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS), and Fedex Corp. (NYSE: FDX).

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) is down more than -21% at $33.46, after posting a new 52-week low of $33.08 earlier today. The solar PV maker lowered guidance this morning. See our coverage here.

Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) is up almost 5.5% at $17.02. The cosmetics company is replacing CEO Andrea Jung. We have more on the story here.

eOn Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: EONC) is up about 108% at $2.12. The online marketing company reported good earnings yesterday, but not that good. Investors must be anticipating a buyout offer.

Silicon Graphics International Corp. (NASDAQ: SGI) is down nearly -17.5% at . The computer maker’s president/CEO has resigned, effective January 1st, to take a position as president and CEO at another company.

SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) is down more than -15% at $5.35, after posting a new 52-week low of $5.34. The solar maker is caught in the general sell-off of solar stocks following the lowered guidance from First Solar.

RADVision Ltd. (NASDAQ: RVSN) is down nearly -12% at $8.57. The communications equipment maker’s shares jumped more than 14% yesterday on talk of a buyout by Avaya. The falling share price is very likely discounting yesterday’s rumor.

Stay tuned for a busy Thursday. Here are some other noteworthy events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 8:30 a.m. – New unemployment claims report
• 8:30 a.m. – Producer price index report
• 8:30 a.m. – Empire State Manufacturing survey
• 9:15 a.m. – Industrial production report
• 9:45 a.m. – Bloomberg consumer comfort index
• 10:00 a.m. – Philadelphia Federal Reserve survey
• 10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas report
• 1:00 p.m. – 5-year TIPS auction
• 4:30 p.m. – Federal Reserve balance sheet and money supply report

Paul Ausick