Here's where markets stand at mid-day:
-NYSE down 86.04 (-1.15%) to 7,414.50
-DJIA down 123.86 (-1.12%) to 10.968.14
-S&P 500 down 11.10 (-0.93%) to 1,178.53
-Nasdaq down 29.81 (-1.18%) to 2,504.64
GLOBAL SENTIMENT
Hang Seng up 1.26%
Nikkei up 0.86%
FTSE down 2.08%
MID-DAY NYSE INDEX WATCH
NYSE Energy down 0.84% at 11,380.40
NYSE Financial down 0.62% at 4,584.36
NYSE Health Care down 1.62% at 6,181.12
NYSE Arca Tech 100 down 1.47% at 1,033.80
UPSIDE MOVERS
(+) NTSP (+2.4%) upgraded.
(+) NLST (+4.5%) tapped for storage center solution
contract.
(+) THRX (+7.2%) gains as GSK ups stake in company.
(+) AKAM (+0.5%) upgraded.
(+) SHOO (+2.5%) gets favorable Barron's coverage.
(+) AMAG (+14.2%) reaches product label agreement with FDA for
Feraheme.
(+) FDX (+2.9%) upgraded.
(+) AMP (+0.1%) covered in critical Barron's piece.
DOWNSIDE MOVERS
(-) DE (-0.2%) upgraded.
(-) EBAY (-2.3%) downgraded.
(-) SWC (-6.3%) says majority stockholder selling shares.
(-) BA (-1.1%) down as analyst JPMorgan cuts earnings view.
(-) WMT (-0.4%) offers to take stake in South Africa's
Massmart.
(-) AEO (-0.24%) upgraded.
(-) LDK (-2.1%) upgraded, reaches capacity in specific
plant.
(-) ADSK (-1.5%) gets favorable Barron's coverage.
(-) TSO (-1.5%) upgraded.
MARKET DIRECTION
Stocks are sharply lower Monday as news over the weekend that
the European Union will bail out Ireland failed to inspire
confidence among investors. Adding to the mix is President Barack
Obama;s announcement that he will propose a two-year freeze on
federal employee pay as he looks to show he is serious about
reigning in the U.S. budget deficit.
Irish banks are up sharply in the regular session in reaction to
the weekend announcement of financial aid. Bank of Ireland (
IRE
) and Allied Irish Banks (
AIB
) are both higher. In a regulatory statement, Bank of Ireland said
it would seek to raise 2.2 billion euros in capital by Feb. 28, via
"internal capital management initiatives, support from existing
shareholders and other capital market sources."
The dour mood set off by worries over Europe was not enough to
dent Amazon.com (
AMZN
), which has kept marginal gains by mid-session on what's become
known as Cyber Monday--the Monday after Thanksgiving when online
retailers see shopping activity similar to their brick-and-mortar
counterparts on Black Friday.
In company news, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration raised
concerns over two drugs made by GlaxoSmithKline (
GSK
) and Merck (
MRK
), Reuters reported. Shares of both drug makers are trading lower
in the regular session. The FDA said in documents released ahead of
a public advisory meeting Wednesday that there was an "unexpected
finding of an increased incidence of high-risk prostate cancers
among men receiving" the drugs in question, according to the
report.
In unrelated news, Merck said it will end a Phase III study
based on the initial results from an investigation of the efficacy
and safety of a treatment regimen including ISENTRESS Tablets once
daily in treatment of adult patients infected with HIV-1 and
following the recommendation of an independent Data Monitoring
Committee.
Meanwhile, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) shares are down
fractionally on plans to buy a controlling stake in South Africa's
Massmart for about $2 billion. Wal-Mart will purchase a 51% stake
in Massmart for $20.71 per share, the companies said in a
statement. Wal-Mart backed off an earlier plan to buy the entire
company for $4.25 billion.
Also, shares of UnitedHealth (UNH) are down after the company
said it sees net 2010 EPS of $3.85 to $3.95 and FY11 revenues of
$99 billion to $100 billion and net earnings of $3.50 to $3.70 per
share. The Thomson Reuters mean for 2010 EPS is $3.97.
Shares of Exxon Mobil (XOM) are down after Canada's Husky Energy
said it would buy oil and gas properties in Alberta and northeast
British Columbia from the U.S. oil major for $860 million, Reuters
reported. The move is set to boost near-term production for Husky,
which is controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing.
Microsoft (MSFT) shares are down amid word that the software
giant is in talks with media companies to license TV networks for a
new online pay-TV subscription service through devices such as its
Xbox video game console, Reuters reports. The news comes as Google
(GOOG), Apple (AAPL) and Netflix (NFLX) are all making inroads into
TV-oriented services.
Amarin Corp plc (AMRN) are up 55% at mid-day, after the
American/Irish biotech reported "statistically significant"
reductions in triglycerides in patients treated with its AMR101
lead drug candidate. The prospective blood-cholesterol treatment
also appears to be well tolerated, based on initial Phase III
clinical results.
Shares of Netlist (NLST) are higher after the company said that
Compellent Technologies has qualified and selected its NetVault NV
for production shipments in the Compellent Storage Center
solution.
Morgan Stanley (MS) shares are trending lower amid news that
Mary Meeker, a technology analyst at the firm who gained notoriety
for her prognostications on the Internet during the 1990s, is
leaving to join venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield &
Byers.
Shares of Kraft (KFT) and Starbux (SBUX) are down in the regular
session after Kraft said it initiated an arbitration proceeding to
challenge Starbucks Coffee's attempt to end the agreement under
which Kraft has built Starbucks' retail grocery coffee business.
The partnership between Kraft and Starbucks dates back to 1998 when
Starbucks' retail grocery coffee business generated less than $50
million in annual revenues.
Commodities are mixed. February gold contracts are flat at
$1,365 an ounce while January crude contacts are up 1.45%, or
$1.21, at $84.97 a barrel.
In energy ETFs, the United States Oil Fund (USO) is up 1.39% to
$36.47 and the United States Natural Gas fund (UNG) is down 4.46%
to $5.79
In precious metal ETFs, the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) is up 0.11% to
$133.30. Market Vectors Gold Miners (GDX) is down 0.73% to $58.18.
iShares Silver Trust (SLV) is up 0.84% to $26.35.