All That Glitters Is Goldman — Wednesday’s IP Market Recap

by Kyle Woodley | January 18, 2012 5:16 pm

[1]The markets were plenty upbeat Wednesday as the S&P 500 cleared the 1,300 mark for the first time in months, pushed higher as big names in tech and finance gained on big news.

Financial giant Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS[2]) gained 6.8% on Wednesday despite a 58% drop in profit. Even though Q4 earnings fell from $3.79 per share in 2010 to $1.84 last year, the result still was higher than the cellar-dwelling Wall Street expectation for $1.23. GS shares are closing in on their December high slightly above $105, finishing Wednesday trading at $104.31.

Sector brethren Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS[3]) caught most of the lightning in GS’s bottle, climbing roughly the same as Goldman Sachs despite reports that it might be laying off more employees[4] after recently cutting 1,600 workers.

Embattled search giant Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO[5]) was up more than 3% today after Tuesday’s announcement that co-founder Jerry Yang was stepping down from his position on Yahoo’s board of directors. Yang was considered a roadblock to a possible sale or merger, and his departure was interpreted by many investors as a sign that Yahoo is on the trading block.[6] YHOO shares finished at $15.92.

Positivity on the German front also helped to boost the solar sector Wednesday. The world’s No. 1 solar market is expected to make cuts to subsidies, but a Deutsche Bank analyst said those cuts might be lower than thought[7]. Names like Suntech Power (NYSE:STP[8]

, +15.3%), First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR[9], +7.5%) and Trina Solar (NYSE:TSL[10], +3.9%) jumped on the news.

Three Up

• Altera (NASDAQ:ALTR[11]): Up 9.9% ($3.66) to $40.72.
• ING Groep (NYSE:ING[12]): Up 6.7% (54 cents) to $8.65.
• Weatherford International (NYSE:WFT[13]): Up 6% (91 cents) to $16.18.

Three Down

• State Street (NYSE:STT[14]): Down 6.6% ($2.80) to $39.95.
• Apollo Group (NASDAQ:APOL[15]): Down 6.4% ($3.67) to $54.03.
• Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA[16]): Down 6.2% (57 cents) to $8.65.

Kyle Woodley is the assistant editor of InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Check out recaps from previous trading days here[17].

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/01/goldman-sachs-gs-morgan-stanley-yahoo-solar-stocks/

---