Top 10 News Items 9/13-9/17: Stocks Continue Sept. Rally, Gold at Another All-Time High, RIM Shares Squeezed Amid Upside Surprise
Here is a recap of the top news items from this week on Wall Street:
1. Stocks continued a month-long rally this week; since September 1, the S&P 500 index has closed in the red just four times (including today's close lower). Of those three days, incidentally, two were very modestly lower: yesterday, the 16th, the index closed down just 0.4 points and on Tuesday of this week, the 14th, the index closed down 0.8 points. Over the month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen nearly 600 points, or about 5.8%. Volume however, as is normal during the end of the summer months, is light.
2. Gold hit fresh all-time highs this week, pushing to nearly $1,278/ounce. Investors are continuing to turn to precious metals as worries over global currencies arise.
3. Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) reported better-than-expected Q2 results on Thursday night of this week, also offering guidance which came in above the Street estimates. Shares surged sharply following the report -- more than 11% -- but by Friday's close, RIM shares were just barely in positive territory. It seems predictions that a short squeeze could push the stock higher were not unreasonable at all.
4. This week's IPO, SouFun (Nasdaq: SFUN) received a quite astounding welcome to the US markets. After pricing at the high end of its $40.50-$42.50 expected range, shares opened trading on Friday over $67....! Even with the jaw-dropping move higher at the open, shares of SouFun still rallied by more than 8% over Friday's trading session, closing this week at $72.70.
5. Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) shares, in contrast to RIM's stock, traded higher over the course of Friday's session following a Q1 beat and decent guidance on Thursday. The tech-giant reported quarterly EPS of 42c, beating by 5 cents, on sales of $7.59 billion.
6. Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) surprised the Street this week by announcing that it will begin paying a dividend. The company said that the annual dividend would be in the 1 percent to 2 percent range, with the exact amount to be determined in the coming months as the company considers developments in the broader market. Shares of Cisco finished this week's trading session about 7% higher.
7. Shares of Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) rallied 6% on Tuesday of this week as the company reported Q2 EPS of 60c on sales of $11.34 billion. The Street had been looking for EPS of 44c on sales of $11.65 billion. Looking forward, Best Buy raised its earnings guidance for the full year 2011 to a range of $3.55 to $3.70 per share from a prior view of $3.45 to $3.60 per share, while the Street is currently looking for $3.36 per share.
8. Crucell (Nasdaq: CRXL) shares rallied very sharply on Friday amid news it is in advanced takeover talks with J&J (NYSE: JNJ) for around $2.3 billion. The stock rocketed about 55% higher on Friday.
9. Also on the M&A front, HP (NYSE: HPQ) announced that it will purchase ArcSight (Nasdaq: ARST) for $43.50/share. ArcSight shares jumped 25% on the news. Notably, the announcement put a damper on traders who had jumped into shares of Radware (Nasdaq: RDWR) on Tuesday of this week amid reports that HP could be interested in the company.
10. Shares of Arena Pharma (Nasdaq: ARNA) almost literally blew-up this week as FDA briefing documents, released on Tuesday, painted a concerning picture for the company's weight-loss drug lorcaserin. The stock plunged almost 40% on that day, another 9% on Wednesday, and then on Thursday the stock was halted ahead of an FDA advisory panel meeting. The panel failed to recommend approval of the product and, when released for trading late Thursday, the stock tumbled another 45%.
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1. Stocks continued a month-long rally this week; since September 1, the S&P 500 index has closed in the red just four times (including today's close lower). Of those three days, incidentally, two were very modestly lower: yesterday, the 16th, the index closed down just 0.4 points and on Tuesday of this week, the 14th, the index closed down 0.8 points. Over the month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen nearly 600 points, or about 5.8%. Volume however, as is normal during the end of the summer months, is light.
2. Gold hit fresh all-time highs this week, pushing to nearly $1,278/ounce. Investors are continuing to turn to precious metals as worries over global currencies arise.
3. Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) reported better-than-expected Q2 results on Thursday night of this week, also offering guidance which came in above the Street estimates. Shares surged sharply following the report -- more than 11% -- but by Friday's close, RIM shares were just barely in positive territory. It seems predictions that a short squeeze could push the stock higher were not unreasonable at all.
4. This week's IPO, SouFun (Nasdaq: SFUN) received a quite astounding welcome to the US markets. After pricing at the high end of its $40.50-$42.50 expected range, shares opened trading on Friday over $67....! Even with the jaw-dropping move higher at the open, shares of SouFun still rallied by more than 8% over Friday's trading session, closing this week at $72.70.
5. Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) shares, in contrast to RIM's stock, traded higher over the course of Friday's session following a Q1 beat and decent guidance on Thursday. The tech-giant reported quarterly EPS of 42c, beating by 5 cents, on sales of $7.59 billion.
6. Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) surprised the Street this week by announcing that it will begin paying a dividend. The company said that the annual dividend would be in the 1 percent to 2 percent range, with the exact amount to be determined in the coming months as the company considers developments in the broader market. Shares of Cisco finished this week's trading session about 7% higher.
7. Shares of Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) rallied 6% on Tuesday of this week as the company reported Q2 EPS of 60c on sales of $11.34 billion. The Street had been looking for EPS of 44c on sales of $11.65 billion. Looking forward, Best Buy raised its earnings guidance for the full year 2011 to a range of $3.55 to $3.70 per share from a prior view of $3.45 to $3.60 per share, while the Street is currently looking for $3.36 per share.
8. Crucell (Nasdaq: CRXL) shares rallied very sharply on Friday amid news it is in advanced takeover talks with J&J (NYSE: JNJ) for around $2.3 billion. The stock rocketed about 55% higher on Friday.
9. Also on the M&A front, HP (NYSE: HPQ) announced that it will purchase ArcSight (Nasdaq: ARST) for $43.50/share. ArcSight shares jumped 25% on the news. Notably, the announcement put a damper on traders who had jumped into shares of Radware (Nasdaq: RDWR) on Tuesday of this week amid reports that HP could be interested in the company.
10. Shares of Arena Pharma (Nasdaq: ARNA) almost literally blew-up this week as FDA briefing documents, released on Tuesday, painted a concerning picture for the company's weight-loss drug lorcaserin. The stock plunged almost 40% on that day, another 9% on Wednesday, and then on Thursday the stock was halted ahead of an FDA advisory panel meeting. The panel failed to recommend approval of the product and, when released for trading late Thursday, the stock tumbled another 45%.
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