Google Goes Shopping
Stocks ended a volatile expiration session on a down
note amidst a pending mega Internet deal. Google
(
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billion for a 5% stake in AOL
(
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Microsoft. Just a week ago, Microsoft was considered to be the leader
in the negotiations.
Energy was notably weak as oil fell almost $2.
ExxonMobil closed off 1.43 at $58.14. Utilities are the big leader so
far this month–up 5%.
Barry Ritholtz, Chief Market Strategist at Maxim Group, said "I
think that people are much more interested in getting out and doing a little
holiday shopping than they are about what’s going on with equities this week. We
had a quadruple witching going on, we had Nasdaq rebalancing and the market had
a hard time holding a bid. Each morning the futures were pretty aggressive
looking–today especially–and here we are negative on the Nasdaq, the Dow and
S&P."
Dow component United Technologies
(
UTX |
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gained $0.43–to an all-time high–after a CIBC upgrade. UTX’s
PowerRating is 4.
General Motors
(
GM |
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PowerRating is 5.
KB Homes
(
KBH |
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million share buyback. KBH’s
PowerRating is 5.
Oracle
(
ORCL |
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0.19/share. Merrill upgraded the stock to a Buy. ORCL‘s
PowerRating is 4.
Strong sectors were: Airlines
(
XAL |
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(
XAU |
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+1.24% Software
(
GSO |
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Weak sectors were:
Oil Services
(
OSX |
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(
XNG |
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-1.84% Oil
(
XOI |
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|
-7.36 | 10,876.15 |
-8.15 | 2252.48 | |
-3.54 | 1267.40 | |
Oil |
-1.93 | 58.06 |
More stocks on the move:
XM Satellite Radio
(
XMSR |
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after a J.P. Morgan downgrade.
XMSR’s
PowerRating is 3.
Tektronix
(
TEK |
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was downgraded to hold at Needham. TEKs
PowerRating is 4.
Darden’s
(
DRI |
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by 0.04 and guided higher. Friedman Billings upgraded the stock up market
perform from underfperform. DRI‘s
PowerRating is 5.
Adobe
(
ADBE |
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mixed Q1 guidance. Brean Murray raised its target price to $44. ADBE‘s
PowerRating is 8.
Universal’s (General Electric)
(
GE |
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"King Kong" turned in a disappointing $9.7 million on its opening night.
Brice Wightman