April Showers on Wall Street — Monday’s IP Market Recap

by Marc Bastow | April 30, 2012 5:37 pm

InvestorPlace Market Recap[1]Stock markets bumbled and stumbled their way to the April finish line today, unable to find enough momentum in a U.S. government report showing increased income levels for consumers, and finishing the day lower to complete the year’s first monthly loss.

The Dow Jones lost 0.15% Monday and at 13,208 is right where it started April 1. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq each were down less than 1% and finished the month in the red.

A Department of Commerce report released before the bell showed personal income increased 0.4% in March, which was an improvement from the 0.2% increase in February. Personal spending increased 0.3% in the month — down from the 0.9% jump in spending the month before, but much weaker than the 0.5% gain in spending forecast by economists. It was the first time since December that income growth outpaced spending increases.

Two big acquisitions held the early headlines, as Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT[2]) announced an investment of $300 million with Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS[3]) for a 17.6% stake in its Nook e-reader business. The news sent BKS stock up[4] as much as 90% in early trading before resting at a 50% gain around $20.75; MSFT was fractionally up. Microsoft’s investment values the overall Nook business at $1.7 billion — more than double B&N’s market value as of Friday’s close.

Meanwhile, Sunoco (NYSE:SUN[5]) gained 20% to hit a four-year-plus peak of $49.50 following news that Energy Transfer Partners (NYSE:ETP[6]) agreed to acquire the company[7] in a deal worth $5.3 billion.

Also Monday, A positive article about eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY[8]) in Barron’s sent the stock up over $41, its highest price since 2006, and AT&T (NYSE:T[9]) also peaked to a four-year high, finishing at $33.

On the flip side, less-than-stellar earnings[10] from Humana (NYSE:HUM[11]) sent HUM stock to an 8% beating.

First-quarter earnings announcements Tuesday include Pfizer (NYSE:PFE[12]), BP (NYSE:BP[13]), Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM[14]), CBS (NYSE:CBS[15]) and Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI[16]) among the notables.

Three Up

Three Down

Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace. As of this writing, he was long MSFT.

Endnotes:

  1. [Image]: https://investorplace.com/hot-topics/investorplace-market-recap/
  2. MSFT: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=MSFT
  3. BKS: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=BKS
  4. sent BKS stock up: https://investorplace.com/2012/04/should-you-buy-into-the-barnes-amp-noble-e-book-hype-msft-bks-bgpiq/
  5. SUN: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=SUN
  6. ETP: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=ETP
  7. agreed to acquire the company: https://investorplace.com/2012/04/energy-transfer-to-purchase-sunoco-sun-etp-sug-sxl/
  8. EBAY: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=EBAY
  9. T: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=T
  10. less-than-stellar earnings: https://investorplace.com/2012/04/humana-profit-falls-shares-tumble/
  11. HUM: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=HUM
  12. PFE: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=PFE
  13. BP: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=BP
  14. ADM: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=ADM
  15. CBS: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=CBS
  16. MMI: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=MMI
  17. GPRO: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=GPRO
  18. SD: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=SD
  19. EXPE: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=EXPE
  20. PAY: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=PAY
  21. FMCN: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=FMCN
  22. CS: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=CS

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