Top 10 News Items 10/19-10/23: Apple Continues It's Dominance; Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley Beat the Street; Microsoft Surges 5% on Upside Surprise

October 23, 2009 4:41 PM EDT

Here is a recap of the top news items from this week on Wall Street:

1. Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) shares jumped almost 5% on Tuesday and another 3% on Wednesday following, as expected, very strong earnings reported on Monday night. Q3 non-GAAP EPS came in at $1.82, walloping the Street's $1.42 estimate, while quarterly sales came in at $9.87 billion. Guidance was expectantly conservative, as always.

2. In the financial sector, traders saw earnings from Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), US Bancorp (NYSE: USB) and American Express (NYSE: AXP). Sentiment in the sector was mixed: although each company beat the Street's earnings estimates, shares of Wells Fargo and AmEx sold-off, whiles MS and USB traded higher.

3. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) surprised the Street this week with a solid beat, something the tech-giant hasn't been able to easily-enjoy in quite some time. Topping the analyst consensus of $0.32 by 8c, traders bid up shares of Microsoft on Friday by 5.4%.

4. Also in Earnings Land (this week was the heart of the Q3 earnings season), tech names Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) and eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) reported. Notably, due to what is now being considered a massive short squeeze, shares of Amazon rallied an unprecedented 27% on Friday as results blew analyst estimates out of the water.

5. On Wednesday, traders learned that Galleon Group will wind down all of its hedge funds, following news that founder Raj Rajaratnam was arrested last Friday in a massive insider trading case. In a letter to clients today, Rajaratnam said he has decided that it is now in the best interest of investors and employees to conduct an orderly wind down of Galleon's funds while we explore various alternatives for its business. Rajaratnam also claimed again that he is innocent of all charges and "will defend myself against these accusations with the same intensity and focus I have brought to managing our investors' capital."

6. Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) shares surged more than 6% on Monday in anticipation of strong results, and then another 3% on Tuesday as traders assumptions were confirmed. The company reported Q3 EPS of $0.64, versus the analyst estimate of $0.06. Revenue for the quarter was $7.298 billion, which compares to the estimate of $7.49 billion. Looking ahead to the end of this year, Cat said it expects to report EPS in the range of $1.85-$2.05.

7. Adding to upside in the Dow this week, McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) once again reported solid quarterly results. Comps rose about 3.8% during the quarter, with strength coming from developing markets within Europe and Asia.

8. On Monday, Carl Icahn offered to underwrite a $6 billion loan for CIT (NYSE: CIT). Later in the week, the activist called the deal a "no brainer" for bondholders and also said that the deal between Goldman and CIT was one of the worst financings ever. Amid the news, shares of CIT finished this week about 2% higher.

9. Controversial banking analyst Dick Bove made waves this week when he downgraded shares of Wells Fargo to Sell just hours after he called it a "standout". Media sources attributed the weakness in during Wednesday's session to the Bove downgrade.

10. The Treasury Department began meetings this week related to its recent compensation proposal. Among some of the highlights, Pay Czar Ken Feinberg said the proposal will require salaries paid in stock to be held long-term, and sales can only be made in thirds.

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