New High for Dow Industrials

By sector, oil stocks were the big losers of the session. The Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index fell 0.9% and the Amex Oil Index slumped 1.5%. Transportation stocks were best performers, with the Dow Jones Transportation Average jumping 2.1% and the Nasdaq Transportation Index finishing higher by 1.1%.

On the corporate side, another disappointment came from the homebuilding sector, where Centex (CTX Quote) said writeoffs would lead to a third-quarter loss. Excluding items, Centex said its adjusted earnings will still probably miss analysts' consensus forecast. The stock fell by $1.55, or 2.9%, to $51.61.

A number of notable analyst actions captured investor attention, including a double downgrade of networking giant Cisco (CSCO Quote). Prudential cut its rating on the stock to neutral from overweight, and Banc of America lowered its rating to neutral from buy. Even so, BofA kept its $30 price target. Cisco lost 88 cents, or 3%, to $28.04.

Elsewhere on the research front, Goldman Sachs resumed coverage of Motorola (MOT Quote) with a neutral rating, and JPMorgan upgraded Sirius (SIRI Quote) and XM (XMSR Quote) to overweight from neutral.

Meanwhile, Banc of America downgraded XM to neutral from buy. Shares of XM finished 0.1% higher, while Sirius gained 1.2%.

Among early reporters, Symantec (SYMC Quote) cut its third-quarter earnings outlook, citing a weaker-than-expected performance by its data-center management business and higher deferrals than anticipated. The company also offered a disappointing fourth-quarter forecast. Symantec dropped $2.69, or 13.1%, to $17.79.