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blasher

09/06/12 8:25 AM

#10339 RE: blasher #10338

Stocks ended little changed yesterday, as investors await the outcome of a crucial meeting of European Central Bank officials early Thursday and the latest U.S. employment data on Friday. Productivity of the U.S. nonfarm business sector rose at a 2.2% annualized rate in the second quarter, stronger than the 1.6% pace estimated a month ago. Unit labor costs were revised lower, to a 1.5% annual increase from 1.7%. Facebook climbed almost 4.8% a day after Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a regulatory filing that he won’t sell any of his company’s stock for the next year. Advanced Micro Devices fell 3.57% after UBS cut its rating to neutral due to matters such as “a shrinking PC client serviceable market” and greater competition from its top rival, Intel. Nokia fell 15.9%, as the co. showed of its newest Lumia 920, running on Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 operating system, at an event in New York.

blasher

09/07/12 8:33 AM

#10340 RE: blasher #10338

Stocks rallied across the board yesterday as optimistic investors went on a buying spree. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi followed up on his promise to protect the euro and outlined an unlimited bond-buying plan. Also, ADP employment in the U.S. non-farm private sector increased by 201,000 from July to August, stronger than increase of 143,000 jobs expected. Weekly jobless claims decreased to 365,000, down 12,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 377,000, below 373,000 expected. The ISM index for the service sector increased to 53.7 in August from 52.6 in July, above the 52.4 forecast. Bank of America led the market gains with a 5% advance after the bank agreed to sell Strategic Partners Inc. to private-equity investors. Amazon unveiled a new front-lit Kindle e-reader Thursday afternoon, the device called the Paperwhite, will sell for $119 and will ship Oct. 1. Amazon gained 2.10% on announcement. Micron shot up 7.8%, while SanDisk gained 8.4% on signs of a shortage in NAND flash-memory chips, which is expected to give the two semiconductor companies a lift. Seagate Technology slid 2.6%, after Needham & Co. issued a note that the co. “may see some margin declines” in light of uncertainty in the hard-drive market. Implied volatility slumped below the 14 level on moderate trading volumes.
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