The financial sector led the way today, but the rising tide appears to be lifting most boats. Some of the stocks that are getting a boost include Western Refining, Inc. (NYSE: WNR), Salesforce.com Inc. (NYSE: CRM), Basic Energy Services, Inc. (NYSE: BAS), Solarfun Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: SOLF), and the Oil Services HOLDRs ETF (NYSE: OIH). The US FCC also made its decision on the purchase of mobile advertising service AdMob by Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was the decisive factor.

The refining industry has been hit hard by high crude oil prices, but now that crude prices are falling, refiners are seeing an upturn. Western Refining is up more than 7% today on more than 150% of average volume. Shares are still closer to their 52-week low, but by early next month the 52-week high of $14.75 will roll off and the shares will be more than halfway to their new top. There’s no particular news on Western, but as a group, the refiners are getting a bump today.

Salesforce.com reported lower profit today and the shares are trading more than 4X normal volume, together with a nice bump of more than 3.75% in the share price. Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) just file suit against the company for patent infringement and the company’s EPS projection for the second quarter were short of analysts’ expectations. But Salesforce is a cash machine, and its operating cash flow rose 46% in the quarter, though part of that was a one-time tax refund. At a time when cash is king, Salesforce looks good.

The oil field services group is also doing well today. The biggest gains are coming to Basic Energy Services, which is up more than 5% on normal volume. There’s no special news on the company, and it looks like Basic could soon get back to even for the year-to-date. The OIH ETF is trading up about 2%, more in line with the entire group of oil field services companies.

Solarfun is up more than 10% on more than double average volume. This is a small-cap Chinese solar PV cell and module maker. The company got an ‘Outperform’ rating from Wells Fargo Securities earlier this month with a price target of $10-$12.50. Shares are trading around $6.50, but that’s down from about $8/share when the rating was given. There’s probablyn still some upside here.

Finally, the FCC has approved Google’s purchase of AdMob for $750 million in Google stock. The irony is that the FCC noted that the Google/AdMob combination would lead to a lack of competition in mobile advertising networks. The companies were numbers 1 and 2 in the field. But Apple’s purchase of privately-held Quattro Wireless, number 3 in mobile ad networks, eased the FCC’s concerns. The commission said that it thought Apple would now become a serious competitor in mobile ad networks. Google shares are down about 1% on double average volume and Apple shares are up about 1% on higher than average volume as well.

Tell us what you think here.

Related Articles:

• BP Estimates on Gulf Oil Leak Are Slippery (BP, RIG, NLC)
• Currency Rates – Epic Euro Reversal at Hand
• How to Play the Sell-Off in Precious Metals