Today was a strange post-holiday session as US markets really just keyed off of a weak dollar and higher commodity prices. $70+ on oil and $1,000+ gold were a highlight, but all in all this was merely the U.S. playing catch-up on gains after we had an extra day off. Here were today's unofficial closing bell figures:
Dow 9,497.34 +56.07 (0.59%)
S&P 500 1,025.37 +8.97 (0.88%)
Nasdaq 2,037.77 +18.99 (0.94%)
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American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) fell by over 10% to $35.92 after Credit Suisse said that shares were effectively worthless as part of its downgrade.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) was among many tech stocks downgraded by Morgan Stanley this morning. Interestingly enough, all the buying interest and the call to assume more risk had shares up 1.2% at $15.88 late in the trading day.
General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) was a winner on an analyst upgrade after JPMorgan raised its rating to overweight. Shares were up close to 5% at $15.54 late in the trading day.
Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) is likely going to be under pressure after its multi-billion buyout plans for Cadbury plc. The $16+ billion buyout has already been rebuffed and shares of Cadbury are trading at a premium. Kraft shares were down almost 6% at $26.44 late in the trading day.
Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSIR) was the biotech disaster of the day after its stem cell drug Prochymal failed both pivotal phase III studies. Shares were down 34% at $8.02 ahead of the closing bell.
Smithfield Foods Inc,(NYSE: SFD) fell as shares were down 2,5% at $12.71after missing estimates with -$0.56 EPS vs -$0.57 estimate while revenue fell to $2.7B vs. $2.8 billion estimates.
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