The Dow Jones Industrial average jumped about 125 points on Monday but has given back about two-thirds of that gain through trading so far today. The story with the S&P 500 index is similar, though not quite so severe: a giveback of about a quarter of Monday's gain. The NASDAQ Composite index is doing better, up about 3% so far today, to remain virtually even with Monday's gains. The indices are slowly gaining back some ground lost earlier this morning, so by the close of trading today, the markets could show a small gain.
Here are the numbers:
Dow 9,712.28 -29.92 (-0.31%)
S&P 500 1,057.07 -3.54 (-0.33%)
Nasdaq 2,122.42 -1.62 (-0.08%)
The day's most heavily traded stock was CIT Group, Inc. (NYSE: CIT) trading at almost four times its average daily volume. Reports that common shareholders will be wiped out in favor of bondholders have fueled the run for the door. Shares of CIT were down more than 35%, to $1.42.
Discovery Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: DSCO) was trading very heavily, at more than ten times average volume. The company reported that it has met with the US Food and Drug Administration and presented a plan to meet FDA requests for additional information. Discovery Labs said that the agency has "indicated" that the plan for Surfaxin, a drug to treat respiratory distress syndrome in infants, is "reasonable." Shares are up at $1.49 (about 34%) now, but were as high as $1.69 earlier this morning.
Micron Technology (NYSE: MU) beat EPS estimates of -$0.19, reporting a loss of $-0.10. This has led to some profit taking, with volume about double the daily average. Micron shares were trading at $8.27, down about 1.55%, and not too far from the 52-week high of $8.80.
For some reason, Brazil's Petrobras Energia SA (NYSE: PZE), the operating arm of Petroleo Brazileiro SA (NYSE: PBR) has traded nearly ten times its average daily volume today. The only thing that happened is that a merger announced in January of two separate PBR subsidiaries became final today. PZE will issue more than 756 million new shares to complete a stock sway that is part of the deal. Company officials said that the deal would have no effect on PBR's business. Investors aren't buying that line, jumping PZE shares by $11.37 so far today, a whopping 178% increase.
In the alternative energy sphere, American Superconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: AMSC) has signed a deal with Chinese company Sinovel to supply $100 million worth of components for Sinovel's three megawatt wind turbine. Shipment of the components is scheduled to begin in March 2010 and end in December 2011. American Superconductor shares were trading up $3.68 (more than 12%), at $34.04. The stock's 52-week range is $8.22-$37.58.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.
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