Top 10 News Items: 9/14-9/18: Bernanke Says 'US Recession Probably Over'; Adobe to Buy Ominture; GE Breaks Through $15, $16, $17 This Week

September 18, 2009 4:51 PM EDT

Here is a recap of the top news items from this week on Wall Street:

1. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told an audience that the "U.S. recession is probably over" this week. Although numerous regulators and many pundits have been taking this same stance for a week or two now (whether correctly or not), hearing the head of the Fed say it gave investors yet another vote of confidence this week.

2. Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) announced that it will purchase Omniture (Nasdaq: OMTR) for $21.50 per share in a deal valued at $1.8 billion. Shares of Ominture finished this week about 31% higher.

3. Shares of GE (NYSE: GE) rallied more than 12% this week, breaking through the $15, $16 and $17 levels in just five trading sessions. Traders attributed the strength to bullishness ahead of GE's Global Research Security Analyst Meeting on Thursday.

4. Stocks continued moving higher Wednesday on the back of several positive news items: retail sales for the month of August came in better-than-expected, as did the Empire manufacturing index. Also, Warren Buffett made some comments saying that Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) is "buying stocks right as we speak".

5. Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) reported Q1 results on Wednesday. EPS came in inline, while sales were slightly lower-than-expected. The stock finished about 5.5% lower this week.

6. Shares of Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) sank more than 5% this week after reporting a Q2 miss.

7. Also on the earnings front, FedEx (NYSE: FDX) reported Q1 results on Thursday. Matching the other big-name earnings reports this week, FedEx's results came in inline and the company also affirmed its FY outlook.

8. Palm (Nasdaq: PALM) reported a Q1 loss of $0.10 on Thursday, beating the Street's estimate by 14 cents. Q2 guidance was below the Street, while FY10 guidance was above. The stock swung wildly in after-hours trading, but ended Friday's trading session down about 3%.

9. Citigroup's (NYSE: C) CEO, Vikram Pandit, made headlines this week, saying that while business is doing well, he "can't predict profitabillity." Pandit confirmed that the US could sell its 7.7 billion common share stake at "any time". Shares of Citi fell about 7% this week.

10. The SEC voted to propose a ban on flash trades this week. Such a move would stop exchanges and other types of trading platforms from issuing data related to certain stock orders a fraction of a second before the market.

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