Closing Bell: Slow Growth Better Than No Growth (NYT, SLAB, V, MA, ZGEN, JASO)

Posted Sep 8th 2010 4:00PM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: New York Times'A' (NYT), Visa Inc. (V)

The latest Beige Book from the Fed showed that growth is definitely decelerating. The good news is that even the pygmies have figured that out by now. Stock traders and bond traders have been fighting over whether the slower growth means a double-dip recession or just anemic growth. There were only a few reports to watch, but many stocks and sectors were on the move.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow Jones 10,387.54 +46.85 (0.45%)
S&P 500 1,098.90 +7.06 (0.65%)
Nasdaq 2,228.87 +19.98 (0.90%)

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades

The New York Times Company (NYT) was up on speculation that Carlos Slim may hike his investment in the company. Shares were up almost 8% at $8.38 late in the trading day.

Silicon Laboratories (SLAB) was down sharply after issuing an earnings and revenue warning due to weak market segments. Shares were down 7% at $35.74 before the closing bell.

Visa Inc. (V) took it on the chin today after Merrill Lynch cut an already cautious "neutral" rating down to an uglier "underperform" rating over doubts over its ability to hold pricing power and over credit card processing fee regulatory concerns. Shares were down over 4% at $68.61 ahead of the closing bell. Mastercard Incorporated (MA) was already at an "underperform" rating due to many of the same concerns, and its shares were down 2.5% at $195.50 in sympathy.

ZymoGenetics, Inc. (ZGEN) was up a whopping 84% at $9.76 right before the closing bell after news this morning that Bristol-Myers had agreed to acquire it.

JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (JASO) saw a huge gain after getting 500 MW of solar power generation orders earlier. Shares were up nearly 12% at $7.25 on heavy volume right before the closing bell.

Tags: carlos slim, featured, JA Solar, JASO, JaSolar, MA, NYT, Silicon Laboratories, V, ZGEN, zymogenetics