Stocks Close Red

Stocks sold off in the last hour of trading to close
lower Thursday. The Dow showed relative strength, with
General Motors
(
GM |
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Chart |
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PowerRating) gaining 2% after sinking
to a 20-year low, and
Merck
(
MRK |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gaining 1% after Morgan
Stanley raised its price target on the company to $38. MRK’s


PowerRating is 6.
The S&P closed near its lows for December.

Existing home sales fell to an 8-month low,
with the number of houses still on the market at the highest levels since 1986.
The National Association of Realtors said home sales
fell 1.7% to a 6.97 million annualized rate.

Crude oil closed over
$60/barrel. Natural gas fell 3%.

Alkermes
(
ALKS |
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News |
PowerRating)
and Cephalon
(
CEPH |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said they
received an approvable letter from the FDA for Vivitrol, a once-a-month
injection to treat alcoholics. ALKS rose 10%.

ALKS’s
PowerRating is 6 and CEPH’s

PowerRating is 3.

Guidant
(
GDT |
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PowerRating)
told the FDA there were more problems with defibrillators.
GDT’s
PowerRating is 5.

Morgan Stanley raised its price target on
Celgene
(
CELG |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to $71 from $65.
CELG’s


PowerRating is 5.

Morgan Stanley also raised its price target on
Multi-Fineline
(
MFLX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to $50 from
$42.. MFLX’s


PowerRating is 7.

Bear Stearns raised its target on
Symbol Tech
(
SBL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to $16. SBL’s


PowerRating is 6.