Trading Where the Action Is!

Stocks were up strongly on Thursday as trader’s optimism grew that Congress would approve a financial bailout package within the next few days.

Financial stocks were among those moving higher as of midday on Thursday, including American International Group
(
AIG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, up more than 20%, and Wachovia Corporation
(
WB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, which climbed more than 12% halfway through trading on Thursday. Also higher were JP Morgan Chase & Company
(
JPM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
up more than 7% as of midday and Morgan Stanley
(
MS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, up nearly 6%.

Capital One Financial
(
COF |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
was among the financial stocks that were pulling back on Thursday, the stock down more than 5% halfway through trading on Thursday. Also lower by a large margin was Pilgrim’s Pride
(
PPC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
, which was down more than 30% on Thursday after warning of “significant losses” in the fourth quarter.

Here is a list of stocks that have gained 20% or more so far in trading today.

/tr>

Name Symbol % Up
Zvue Corporation ZVUE +163.88
Freddie Mac FRE +54.50
Fannie Mae FNM +48.28
Hydrogen Corporation HYDG +40.74
Top Ships Inc. TOPS +29.13
Avalon Pharmaceuticals Inc. AVRX +27.59
Lipid Sciences Inc. LIPD +27.21
Meade Instruments Corporation MEAD +26.96
Pharmacopeia Inc. PCOP +22.69
Consumer Porfolio Services CPSS +22.62
Cherokee International Corporation CHRK +22.55
American International Group AIG +20.78
Jaco Electronics Inc. JACO +20.78
Radio One Inc. ROIA +20.35

Here is a list of stocks that have lost 20% or more so far in trading today.

Name Symbol % Down
Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation PPC -32.39
Ameron International Corporation AMN -30.41
Pixelplus Company Ltd. PXPL -30.40
Cra International Inc. CRAI -26.78
Genetic Technologies Ltd. GENE -22.70
Access Plans USA Inc. AUSA -21.21
World Heart Corporation WHRT -20.98
Media Sciences International Inc. MSII -20.59

Source: MarketWatch

For a list of today’s top-rated stocks, click here.

David Penn is Editor in Chief at TradingMarkets.com.