Europe Still Rules the Markets: Monday’s IP Market Recap

by Marc Bastow | June 18, 2012 5:16 pm

[1]The reality of another momemtum-robbing weekend caught up to markets again today, as stocks were mixed throughout Monday trading even after this weekend’s election in Greece yielded a win for the pro-bailout party. While that was viewed as a positive, Greece’s economy is still a bit of a mess, and Europe’s debt crisis, now engulfing Spain[2] and Italy, is still hitting the U.S. markets hard.

Last week’s gains continued for the Nasdaq, which was up 0.78% to 2,895, and the S&P 500, which edged ahead 0.14% to 1,344. However, the Dow Industrias lost 0.20% to finish at 12,742.

In addition to European woes, with meetings of the Group of 20 and the Federal Reserve on tap this week, investors are perhaps just a little leery of jumping in for the long haul. Many investors are thinking the Fed could announce another round of bond buying or plans to continue its so-called Operation Twist, lifting stocks for the short term.

In the meantime, smaller retail stocks took a punch to the gut as Body Central (NASDAQ:BODY[3]), a young women’s apparel and accessories supplier fell on an earnings warnings. Falling in kind was discount shoe retailer DSW (NYSE:DSW[4]), which slid 11.34% on the news, along with Shoe Carnival (NASDAQ:SCVL[5]), which lost 3.71%. Discount retailers Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST[6]) and TJX (NYSE:TJX[7]) managed to maintain early gains to finish up 2.39% and 1.37%, respectively.

Technology companies also saw mixed results, as the big pending news of the day, Microsoft’s assumed reentry into the tablet space, did little to enthuse investors. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT[8]) shares were down all day, finally settling for a 0.60% loss, while Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL[9]) finished down just over 2%. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL[10]) bucked the trend, finishing ahead just over 2% on the day.

Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA[11]) managed to rebound from a difficult stretch last week, rising nearly 4% on word that Draw Something With Ryan Seacrest is coming to CBS[12] (NYSE:CBS[13]), in an attempt to capitalize on the popular game application.  Facebook (NASDAQ:FB[14]) also made headway, rising 4.65% to finish at $32.43 after announcing that it acquired Face.com, a facial-recognition software company.

Three Up

• Fusion-Io (NYSE:FIO[15]): Up 8.82% ($1.69) to $20.86
• Smithfield Foods (NYSE:SFD[16]): Up 7.54% ($1.45) to $20.67
• Cirrus Logic (NASDAQ:CRUS[17]): Up 5.69% ($1.65) to $30.63

Three Down

• Alpha Natural (NYSE:ANR[18]): Down 4.31% (38 cents) to $8.44
• Onyx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ONXX[19]): Down 4.13% ($1.90) to $44.08
• Kodiak Oil (NYSE:KOG[20]): Down 3,62% (29 cents) to $7.72

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

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/06/mondays-ip-market-recap-body-dsw-scvl-rost-fjx-msft/

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