Ultimate Market Recap: Markets Spike Over 2.5%, Amazon and Apple Top Charts
Monday Morning’s Top Stories
In a new report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (O.E.C.D.), the Paris-based research group warned that the euro-zone crisis could cause credit to dry up globally in the banking system, affecting the world economy. It additionally said the crisis remained “a key risk to the world economy” and subsequently cuts its forecast for Western countries.
O.E.C.D. economist Pier Carlo Padoan said, “We are concerned that policy-makers fail to see the urgency of taking decisive action to tackle the real and growing risks to the global economy.”
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Earlier today, Moody’s Investor Service also issued a grim report on Europe’s sovereign debt crisis.
As it faces regulatory challenges with its T-Mobile USA merger, AT&T is preparing to bring out the big guns to save its $39 billion deal by possibly divesting a large portion of its assets. The number hasn’t been determined, according to a Bloomberg story, but it could be as high as 40 percent of T-Mobile’s assets to address Justice Department concerns.
Today’s Cyber Monday is expected to bring a large number of deals this year with projected record-breaking sales of $1.2 billion, according to ComScore. Major retailers are planning to offer promotions — as many as eight out of 10 online retailers — and for the shoppers who couldn’t get enough over the holiday weekend, 39 percent plan to hit the Internet today for more, according to PriceGrabber.
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These “couch consumers” are expected to shop while at work today and many sites haven not rolled out their specials yet. Top sites pushing Cyber Monday deals include Amazon , Overstock , Walmart , Macy’s , Target , J.C. Penny , Kohl’s , Microsoft , GameStop , and even Groupon .
Amazon.com Inc. reported that its Black Friday Kindle sales quadrupled from the previous year. The company’s Kindle Fire was its best selling tablet on the website and also at Target Corp. stores.
The company now markets four Kindles, with prices ranging from $79 up to $199.
Monday Morning Hot Stocks
After a record breaking Black Friday, analysts declare that Best Buy , Macy’s , Wal-Mart and Amazon were among the early winners. However, some remain cautious about the overall consumer picture. The second best Black Friday just happens to be in 2008, the year the financial crisis was kicked into high gear. Shares jumped more than 4% early Monday.
Don’t Miss: U.S. Consumers Spend Record Amounts Over Thanksgiving Weekend.
Amazon.com Inc. : Amazon reports Kindle sales increased four times over last year’s Black Friday numbers. Consumers remain willing to splurge on hot tech items such as the Kindle and Apple’s iPad 2. ComScore confirms Amazon’s big day, saying Amazon.com tallied 50% more visitors than any other retailer’s website. Shares surged more than 4% in before the opening bell.
Google Inc. : Shares popped more than 3% after receiving an upgrade from Citigroup . The bank upgraded shares to buy, noting the company is trading below market multiples and is a compelling risk-reward opportunity in the internet sector. Google has also shown revenue growth and margin stabilization.
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Netflix, Inc. : Shares are up more than 5% after a Barron’s weekend article highlights Whitney Tilson’s flip flop on the entertainment provider. The stock could become “the BP of 2011,” he says, with a price that could double in a few months and whose downside is low after a steep decline over the past few months. Shares were also upgraded to Neutral from Negative at Susquehanna.
SPDR Select Sector Financial Fund ETF : After a horrible Thanksgiving week, bank stocks are bouncing higher. Goldman Sachs , Bank of America , JP Morgan , UBS , and Morgan Stanley are all heading higher on euro zone bailout rumors.
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Monday’s Trending Stocks
Following Thanksgiving weekend, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is surging higher 300 points to 11,538 and the S&P 500 Index is up 2% to almost 1,200. Here are the most buzzing stocks on Wall Street today:
Commercial Metals Company : Shares of Commercial Metals Company are trading higher 22% today. Commercial Metals Company and its subsidiaries manufacture, recycle, and market steel and metal products and related materials. The Company markets and trades primary and secondary metals, steel, ores, concentrates, industrial minerals, ferroalloys, chemicals, and other materials used in a variety of industries.
POZEN Inc. : Shares of POZEN Inc. are trading higher 3.5% today. POZEN Inc. is a pharmaceutical company that develops therapeutics for diseases with unmet medical needs. The Company’s product candidates include migraine treatments as well as is exploring the development of product candidates in other pain-related therapeutic areas.
Evergreen Energy Inc. : Shares of Evergreen Energy Inc. are trading higher 78% today. Evergreen Energy Inc. develops alternative fuel products. The Company’s K-Fuel process enriches and upgrades low-grade subbituminous coal and lignite into a high Btu, low moisture, low emission product.
Lucas Energy, Inc. : Shares of Lucas Energy, Inc. are trading higher 3.5% today. Lucas Energy, Inc. explores for oil and natural gas in the United States.
Greif, Inc. : Shares of Greif, Inc. are trading lower 4% today. Greif Inc. manufactures and markets industrial packaging products and services. The Company provides steel, plastic, fiber, corrugated and multiwall containers. Greif also produces containerboard and has operations nationwide.
Royale Energy, Inc. : Shares of Royale Energy, Inc. are trading lower 3.88% today. Royale Energy, Inc. produces and sells natural gas, acquires oil and gas lease interests and proved reserves, drills both exploratory and development wells, and sells fractional working interests in wells to be drilled.
Celsion Corporation : Shares of Celsion Corporation are trading lower 12% today. Celsion Corporation is a development company specializing in heat based treatments for cancer and other diseases. The Company’s products include a heat activated liposomal form of doxorubicin for the treatment for liver and breast cancers.
Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. : Shares of Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. are trading higher 8% today. Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biotechnology company that has developed a receptor-based screening assay using their own CART technology.
UnitedHealth Group Inc. : Shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc. are trading higher 3.76% today. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated owns and manages organized health systems in the United States and internationally. The Company provides employers products and resources to plan and administer employee benefit programs. UnitedHealth also serves the health needs of older Americans, provides specialized care services, and provides health care information and research to providers and payers.
Copart, Inc. : Shares of Copart, Inc. are trading higher 1.5% today. Copart, Inc. provides vehicle suppliers, primarily insurance companies, with a variety of services to process and sell salvage vehicles through auctions. Salvaged vehicles are primarily sold to licensed dismantlers, rebuilders, and used vehicle dealers.
Market Recap
Markets closed up on Wall Street today: Dow +2.59%, S&P +2.92%, Nasdaq +3.52%, Oil +1.20%, Gold +1.62%.
On the commodities front, Oil climbed to $97.93 a barrel. Precious metals were also up, with Gold climbing to $1,715.90 an ounce while Silver rose 3.39% to settle at $32.15.
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Today’s markets were up because:
1) Europe. Markets rallied today on hopes that euro-zone leaders will stitch together a new fiscal union mean to stabilize European Union. Investors hope the plan, being pushed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy — leaders of the euro zone’s two biggest economies — will open the way for the European Central Bank to bail out Italy and Spain.
2) Consumer spending. Reports of strong Black Friday weekend sales contributed to today’s broad rally. Major retailers reported record sales of $52.4 billion over Black Friday weekend — up 16% from last year — according to a survey by the National Retail Federation released Sunday. Retailers like Wal-Mart , Home Depot , Best Buy , Macy’s , and Saks were trading higher today on the news.
3) Banks. As is the case with most broad rallies, the financial sector was the biggest beneficiary. Investors seem to have been left unfazed by a report today exposing the biggest financial firms’ reliance on the Federal Reserve’s bailout program, as the country’s six biggest banks – Morgan Stanley , Citigroup , Goldman Sachs , JPMorgan , Bank of America , and Wells Fargo — were all trading higher, though they reportedly borrowed $460 billion from the Fed just to survive the crisis.
After Hours Radar Stocks
After closing the day 9% lower, shares of Groupon Inc. are edging .39% higher in late trading. Shares have fallen more than 40% since going public on November 4. Other popular internet companies such as LinkedIn Corp and Pandora also closed lower on Monday.
Shares of Amazon continue to head higher after the closing bell. Shares jumped 6.4% during regular market hours after the online retailer giant reported sales of its Kindle products increased four time from the previous year. The Seattle-based company said its Black Friday sales were “the best ever” for its Kindle products. Amazon also competes with Apple and Barnes & Noble .
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Shares of Activision Blizzard Inc. continue to attract attention with its popular Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 game. According to interim results from the Black Friday Weekend survey by the Consumer Electronics Association, electronics were among the most purchased items over the Thanksgiving weekend. Activision closed 3.49% higher on Monday. Shares of Microsoft and GameStop also closed higher.
eBay Inc. is poised for a strong holiday season, as consumers showed they were still willing to spend money this shopping season. The company’s PayPal unit saw mobile payments increased more than six times year over year on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Shares closed more than 5% higher.
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