Today was starting out as another one of those irrational exuberance days with shares gaining, despite a Nouriel Roubini panning of the economy for a double-dip recession.But when you factor in Meredith Whitney comments and Dick Bove calling for more bank closures, the sellers put a lid on the market. Today's last two hours were a total coin toss as to whether we'd close up or down today for the day.
Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 9,509.28 +3.32 (0.03%)
S&P 500 1,025.56 -0.57 (-0.06%)
Nasdaq 2,017.98 -2.92 (-0.14%)
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades
Top Trader Alert Stocks
Warner Chilcott plc (NASDAQ: WCRX) was a rare winner as an acquirer of a business. The Irish drug maker is paying some $3.1 billion to acquire the drug and pharmaceutical operations of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG). After a review, this is very accretive and suddenly makes the company look cheap. The proof is that shares were up over 30% and challenging 52-week highs.
Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) ran for a few reasons, but the active trader alert pretty much says it all. Freddie Mac was up over 20% at one point, but was up 13% at $1.97 right before the close, while Fannie Mae had been up almost 50% and was up 35% at $1.63 before the close.
ARIAD Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ARIA) rose after the close on Friday. This morning's report was that ARIAD and its co-plaintiffs announced that the Court of Appeals granted their petition for rehearing 'En Banc' in the Lilly NF-kB patent lawsuit. Shares were up about 2% at $2.17 as many traders sold the news.
Electro-Optical Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: MELA) was a big winner after being featured in this weekend's "unusual suspects" after Barron's highlighted its skin cancer testing. Shares were up 20% at $9.53 ahead of the close and shares hit a new 52-week high above $10.00 earlier in the trading day.
Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD) may have escaped some technical damage after its shares climbed back above last week's lows. The stock was another of the unusual suspects over the weekend after Barron's slammed it as the cover story. This one was down over 3% at $63.96 right before the closing bell.
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Closing Bell: The recession is still over, still... do you feel it?
