Closing Bell: Dow ends higher; HPQ, NOVL, PAY climb, EBAY, NVTL decline

Posted Aug 20th 2008 4:12PM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: After the Bell, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), eBay (EBAY), Market Matters, Novell Inc (NOVL), VeriFone Holdings (PAY), Oil

Today started out as though we were going to break the losing streak. After a mixed trading day we markets indeed ended up higher to gain ground rather than posting a third day of triple-digit losses. Oil started out higher this morning, getting back over $116 per barrel before coming back down slightly.

Below are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA 11,482.33 (+69.78)
S&P500 1274.81 (+8.12)
NASDAQ 2,389.85 (+5.49)
10YR T-Note 3.799% (-0.043%)
52-Week Lows
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) came out with strong earnings last night and guided inline to higher without the EDS integration. Shares were up almost 6% at $46.29 at the end of the day. This name alone is probably responsible for more cheers than any today as 32 million shares changed hands.

Novell Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVL) saw a gain of almost 2% at the end of today after its Linux supporting was expanded with Microsoft by $100 million.

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) had a rough day with shares down 2% at $24.88 in the session's final minutes. To entice more listings and loyalty, the company announced it was going to lower its fixed-price online listing fees for sellers who use fixed sales prices on their eBay stores rather than open auctions.

VeriFone Holdings Inc. (NYSE: PAY) finally gave a positive outlook for a turnaround ahead of estimates, a cleaned-up accounting mess that has been a gorilla on its neck, and named a new CFO. Shares were up 32% at $19.50 in today's final minutes of trading.

Novatel Wireless Inc. (NASDAQ: NVTL) hit fresh 52-week lows after the wireless broadband modem maker for laptops and cellular companies missed its earnings views. To add insult to injury, Piper Jaffray has slashed its rating down to Sell. As you can tell by the opening comments, this was the blow-up loser today. Shares were down 26% at $6.20 in today's final minutes.

Tags: EBAY, HPQ, NOVL, NVTL, PAY