Takeover Deluxe, Bernanke’s Nervousness, Banks Higher
An overall quiet day on Wall Street despite several takeover bids hitting the wire. The erratic session was made negative by worries concerning Ben Bernanke’s statement due later in the week. Banks gained on analysts beliefs that the Fed will leave rates at record lows despite the slight recent increase. Late day selling pressure pushed the major indexes into the red with the DJIA giving back -18.97 to 10383.38, the Nasdaq fell -1.84 to 2242.03 and the S&P 500 dropped -1.16 to 1108.01.
^MIL^: Soared 22.44% or $16.01 to $87.35/share when they received an unsolicited takeover bid from Thermo Fisher Scientific.
^AIG^: Climbed 7.16% or $1.90 to $28.43/share after an analyst stated she believes underwriting is improving.
^HRB^: Fell 4.55% or 96 cents to $20.16/share after being downgraded by Oppenheimer & Co.
^HUM^: Advanced 5.56% or $2.52 to $47.87/share upon news that Medicare may raise payments to insurers next year.
Oil advanced 24 cents to $80.05, gold fell $9.00 to 1113.00 and the VIX index gave back 0.40% to 19.94.
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