Homebuilding stocks were bullish after the increase in pending homes sales data. Homebuilder Lennar (LEN) was up almost 5%, KB Home (KBH) was up 4.19% and D.R. Horton (DHI) was up 3.02%.

O’Reilly Automotive (ORLY) fell over 16% after announcing that 2nd quarter earnings expectations will come in lower than expected as well as lower guidance.

Boeing (BA) rose .89% as it changed their commerical unit CEO.

H&R Block Inc. (HRB) gained 3.38% to $15.60 as higher tax filing volume made up for losses in earnings.

Sealy Corp. (ZZ) rose 8.82% as they posted higher margins based on higher pricing of luxury mattresses.

Fast Forward to 7:42 

Additionally, this winter’s warm temperatures did not help spark demand for coal. China’s coal demand has been on a negative slope too. On Monday S&P downgraded their credit rating from B- to CCC+. JRCC has a market cap of $105.07 million. Analysts have suggested that JRCC may have operating challenges given that their return on assets of -2.9%, relative to their competitors with an average of -.7%. JRCC also trades at a lower price/book ratio than the average of competitors.

There is only one thing that came out of today, the stock market is stuck in a range.  I do not think that the market will be able to break out through the 1280 level to the downside or above the 1350 level to the upside.  We saw positive news on NWSA as they are considering spinning their printing and media into two companies and the stock raged higher to $21.50 before coming off at the end of the day.  Also, we see the EUR hovering around this 1.25 level looking for a breakout and I continue to be short the EUR.  Earnings that I will be looking at for tonight and tomorrow before the bell are GIS, HRB, LEN, and MON.  I think the more we have slow days like today, the more the market will be stuck in a range and I am playing it accordingly

In commodities, corn futures continued to rise on weather across the U.S. December corn rose 20.5 cents to $6.145 per bushel. WTI crude futures fell 53 cents to $78.68 and gold futures fell $16.60 to $1571.80.

The for profit education institution Apollo Group, Inc. (APOL) rose 9% after better than expected earnings.

News Corp (NWS) gained 6% as talks emerged that they would split into two separate companies, one for film, and one for print and online news.

Zynga (ZNGA) peaked up almost 3% in morning trading in anticipation of its release of new products.

Apollo Group runs for-profit colleges, most notably the University of Phoenix. They posted a net revenue of $134.0 million or $1.13 per share. Although the recent net revenue was lower than last year’s $212.4 million and $1.51 per share, the earnings beat analysts’ expectations. Student advisory services increased 2.6% since the previous quarter to $470.1 million. Marketing costs decreased from 1.3% to $158.9 million due to lower advertising costs. Their profit for the year will be as high as $740 million, above the previous consensus of $725 million and revenue will be in the range of $4.2-4.3 billion.

Apollo Group Co-CEO said, “We are focused on delivering the best possible experience and service to support working adults, to address workforce needs, and to strengthen the connection to careers for our students.”