Dow Jones Hits a Bump — Wednesday’s IP Market Recap

by Kyle Woodley | February 15, 2012 4:22 pm

[1]“Fear” was the word du jour Wednesday, as a double whammy of concerns about Greece and Iran sent markets lower and oil prices higher.

The Dow Jones recorded its steepest drop of the year — 97 points, still less than 1% — amid continued worries about Greece’s sovereign debt. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq each also shed about half a percent. Meanwhile, reports of Iranian suspension of crude oil to several EU countries sent Brent crude prices up about 2% — but the Iranian government denied the report, though Brent crude still finished up almost about 1% at about $188.40 per barrel.

Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA[2]) fell more than 17% Wednesday following its first quarterly earnings report as a publicly traded stock[3]. The company had year-over-year gains of 59% and 26% in revenues and bookings, respectively, and adjusted earnings of 5 cents per share topped Wall Street expectations. However, a projected slowdown of bookings growth for 2012 — to a range of 16% to 25% — rattled investors.

Kellogg (NYSE:K[4]) gained a little over 5% after the company agreed to purchase the Pringles snack brand from Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG[5]) following the dissolution of a previous deal[6] between P&G and Diamond Foods (NASDAQ:DMND[7]). Diamond Foods is embroiled in an accounting scandal and has placed its CEO, Michael Mendes, on “administrative leave.” With the Pringles purchase, Kellogg will become the world’s second-largest snack company behind PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP[8]).

Three Up

• Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR[9]): Up 7% ($1.59) to $24.16.
• Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN[10]): Up 7.2% ($4.80) to $71.70.
• Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA[11]) Up 4.7% ($1.27) to $28.52.

Three Down

• DryShips (NASDAQ:DRYS[12]): Down 7% (26 cents) to $3.48.
• Owens Corning (NYSE:OC[13]): Down 6.3% ($2.05) to $30.43.
• Deere & Co. (NYSE:DE[14]): Down 5.4% ($4.77) to $84.28.

Kyle Woodley[15] is the assistant editor of InvestorPlace.com[16]. 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/2012/02/dow-jones-drop-zynga-znga-kellogg-k-diamond-foods-dmnd/

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