Top 10 News Items 11/09-11/13: HP/3Com Strike a Massive Tech Deal; Intel to Pay AMD $1.25B to Settle Disputes; Wal-Mart Reports Solid Q3 Results

November 13, 2009 4:10 PM EST

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

1. Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) surprised the Street with a monster deal this week. On Wednesday, HP announced that it will buy 3Com (Nasdaq: COMS) for $7.90 per share in a deal valued at $2.7 billion. Shares of 3Com surged more than 31%, but are still below the $7.90 level. A top competitor to 3Com, Brocade (Nasdaq: BRCD) had previously been thought to be a top takeover target for HP and the stock fell more than 13% to close this week's trading session.

2. Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) announced that it will pay AMD (NYSE: AMD) $1.25 billion in order to settle all antitrust disputes. Shares of AMD rose more than 21% on Thursday following the news.

3. Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) reported slightly better-than-the-Street Q3 results on Thursday of this week, sending shares modestly higher to close the week. The world's largest retailer reported quarterly earnings of $0.84 on sales of $99.4 billion. The company was seemingly conservative with its Q4 outlook, but also raised FY10 guidance.

4. priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) shares jumped more than 17% on Tuesday of this week following strong Q3 results.

5. Disney (NYSE: DIS) topped the Street's Q4 views on Thursday of this week, sparking a nearly 5% jump in the stock on Friday.

6. Late Wednesday, in a Form 8-K, Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) issued very strong preliminary Q4 results. The homebuilder announced that net signed contracts came in at about 765 units, resulting in sales of $430.8 million, up 42% and 62%, respectively, from the same quarter last year. Contract cancellation rate was 6.9% during the quarter, inline with its pre-downturn historical averages. Q4 home building deliveries and sales were about 860 units and $486.6 million, respectively, down 20% and 30% from the same quarter last year. For FY09, net signed contracts came in at 2,450 units and $1.30 billion. Home building deliveries were 2,965 units on sales of $1.76 billion, down 37% and 44%, respectively, versus 2008. The news boosted the stock more than 16% and brought up the entire hombuilding sector.

7. Gold marked another new all-time high this week as traders scampered for the protection of a hard commodity amid the recent concerns related to the dollar. After trading to over $1,120, gold closed this week around $1,118.

8. Starting the M&A activity off for this week, Kraft (NYSE: KFT) made a formal bid for Cadbury (NYSE: CBY) on Monday. Traders shrugged off the news however, as, less than an hour after the formal bid was put out, Cadbury had rejected the offer yet again.

9. This week finished with two solid IPO's: Dollar General (NYSE: DG) and teen-retailer rue21 (NYSE: RUE). After pricing at $21, Dollar General closed this week at $22.66 while rue21, after pricing at $19 closed this week at $24.30.

10. AIG's (NYSE: AIG) brand new CEO, Bob Benmosche threatened to leave the embattled insurer this week as, reportedly, he claimed to be concerned with the government's current pay restrictions. Several hours after the first reports were heard, Benmosche put out a memo to employees saying that he is "committed to leading AIG through its challenges and to continuing to fight..."

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