The Nasdaq exchange remained firmly in the green throughout Monday trading, while the benchmark indices struggled but successfully eked out a victory, with the S&P 500 and Dow lurching into positive territory at the last minute, as the days catalysts consisted of a mish-mash of earnings reports, announcements, and other news items.
The Final Tally
? Standard & Poor’s 500: +0.16 percent to 1,799.84
? Dow Jones Industrial Average: +0.05 percent to 15,801.79
? Nasdaq: +0.54 percent to 4,148.17
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On the S&P
Yahoo! (YHOO) added about one percent on the day, after the company announced a deal with Yelp (YELP) to boost local search results. Despite a miss on earnings, toy-maker Hasbro (HAS) popped nearly 5 percent on strong sales numbers for girls’ toys.
Social media giant Facebook (FB) was off over 1 percent on heavy volume, while US auto-manufacturers were lower by Monday’s closing bell, with General Motors (GM) and Ford (F) off by 3 and 1 percent respectively.
On the Dow
Despite a late-session rally, the Dow continued to reveal that big oil finds itself in something of a pinch after last week’s earnings reports showed Chevron (CVX) and ExxonMobil (XOM) struggling to keep up with production expectations. Both companies were off by around one percent by the closing bell. Unitedhealth Group (UNH) was off by over 2 percent, while the Walt Disney Co. (DIS) continued its string of up days, adding nearly 2 percent.
On the Nasdaq
Unlike the indices, the Nasdaq exchange spent the greater part of the day in solid positive territory. Electronics manufacturer Plug Power Inc. (PLUG) continued on its whipsaw spiral upwards, adding another nearly 14 percent on heavy trading. Tech stocks turned out to be the main driver for today’s gains, with application software maker AutoNavi Holdings Limited (AMAP) up around 24 percent. Apple (AAPL) was nearly 2 percent higher after activist investor Carl Icahn announced that he was retracting his recently announced threat to substantially increase his position in the company. Zynga (ZNGA) and Micron Technology (MU) also ended the day higher on substantial volume.
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