Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over daily movements, we do like to keep an eye on market changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
Stocks generally gained ground on the last day of 2013, with the Dow and S&P 500 climbing to new all-time record highs one final time in this groundbreaking year for the major market benchmarks. Yet even with investors closing the year on a bullish note, some stocks got gave up ground in the last session of 2013, as Intermolecular (IMI +0.00%), Idenix Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: IDIX), and JinkoSolar Holding (JKS 1.61%) all posted fairly substantial losses in what was otherwise a quiet market.
Intermolecular dropped 10% after announcing yesterday that it had amended its agreement with First Solar (FSLR 1.35%). The new agreement reduces the amount of fees that Intermolecular will earn in 2014, in exchange for cutting back on the small company's obligation to provide workers to help improve First Solar's solar-panel efficiency. Intermolecular will also receive volume-based royalties on any intellectual property used in First Solar's cadmium-telluride panels. The change makes it more important for Intermolecular to deliver results that will enhance First Solar's panels if it wants to earn as much revenue as investors had expected to get from the deal.
Idenix fell 4%, extending its pullback falling a big move upward in the week before the Christmas holiday. The pre-holiday gains had resulted from hopes that the company could win compensation in a patent dispute with Gilead Sciences (GILD 2.42%) concerning its Sovaldi hepatitis-C treatment. But the pullback suggests that investors are far from certain about a positive result from patent litigation, and with extensive doubts about its own pipeline, Idenix needs to get some good news if it wants to secure longer-lasting gains.
JinkoSolar declined 6%, giving back almost all of its gains from yesterday. The solar stock climbed in sympathy with Trina Solar's gains Monday after Trina announced a lucrative utility-scale solar project victory in China. Yet the real question for JinkoSolar remains whether it can extend its run of profitability to take maximum advantage of favorable solar-industry conditions and enhance its position among myriad Chinese solar stocks.
