After last week, the worst of 2012, finished with a resounding thud, today's mixed market performance was decidedly less awful. However that didn't stop a number of stocks from burning investors with significant underperformance.
With that in mind, let's see how the major are fared today and then take a closer look at three stocks making news.
Index |
Gain / Loss |
Gain / Loss % |
Ending Value |
---|---|---|---|
Dow Jones Industrial Average |
71.82 | 0.56% | 12,921.41 |
Nasdaq | (22.93) | (0.76%) | 2,988.40 |
S&P 500 | (0.69) | (0.05%) | 1,369.57 |
Source: Yahoo! Finance.
Last week, a number of macro events helped push a roaring market looking for a sell-off down the proverbial stairs. We had the Federal Reserve's wavering commitment to another round of stimulus combined with dismal job numbers, rising unemployment claims, and China's report of GDP growth well beneath expectations. With no malaise-jolting events today changing that story, it's no surprise we saw such a mixed performance.
Apple
Speaking of companies that went on a run, natural-gas engine maker Westport
Health-care stocks Halozyme Therapeutics
It's not clear exactly what the FDA expects, making it a little early to declare Halozyme's steep sell-off a buying opportunity, even if shares are sitting back where they were last October, when the hype really kicked into gear. Also, dilution is a concern, but Halozyme has nearly $53 million in the bank and burned through about $35 million last year, so the small biotech should be able to hold out for a little while. Baxter remains the safer play of the two, and investors waiting for the strong cash-flow generator to regress toward the middle of its trading range have their opportunity.
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