Energized:
- Stocks spent half the session in the red and half in the green. As understandable as a lower close would’ve been considering the events in the Middle East and Japan, stocks got off the mat with some help from momentum in materials, precious metals and oil, which crossed $106 a barrel at some point. But it was essentially a rally in name only, as only about 53% of NYSE stocks closed higher, and significantly, a crossover above 1300 on the S&P 500 couldn’t be held. Perhaps more significantly, stocks faded into the close as news from Portugal suggested a government shakeup, like, real soon. Yes, that’s three crisis situations on three continents. Got global selloff?
- After the closing bell, shares of Red Hat (NYSE:RHT) added 10% in after-hours trading following the company beating analysts’ fourth-quarter earnings and revenue estimates.
- On Thursday, a couple of off-peak earnings reports that are actually worthwhile: in the a.m., Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) will offer a glimpse into whether people can still buy gas and consumer electronics, while after the closing bell Oracle’s (NASDAQ:ORCL) profit report will be huge for those betting on large-cap tech. Economic data brings the weekly jobless claims numbers and the February report on durable goods orders.
OUT THERE SOMEWHERE:
- Your humble writer’s local-angle alert: Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) delists Berkeley, Calif., news site. Nobody knows why.
- Let’s have more nuclear power.
- And no religion, too.
- Graduating into a recession.
- Here comes your collapse of the Portuguese government. (Update: the dude did resign).
- More nuclear-plant fallout: China takes over No. 2 in global GDP percentage.
- Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) needs its own Android device.
- The secret of success to the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Android mobile platforms? They didn’t come from telecoms.
- 5 big ETF myths.
- Can’t be a good thing that movie theaters are fighting nutrition-disclosure rules.
