Finally, a Break in the Storm — Wednesday’s IP Market Recap

by Marc Bastow | November 28, 2012 4:56 pm

[1]U.S. stocks seemed headed to yet another day of losses Wednesday, but a strong performance from retailers and a midday rebound — jolted by positive news from Washington concerning a possible avoidance of the fiscal cliff — helped the markets finish broadly in the black.

The Dow rose 0.83% to close at 12,984.49, with Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ[2], +3%) reversing recent losses and American Express (NYSE:AXP[3], +2%) charging ahead to help the lead the way. In all, only 3 of the 30 Dow components lost ground.

The other indices also finished up — the S&P 500 gained 0.79% to end at 1,409.93, and the Nasdaq improved 0.81% to 2,991.78.

The retail sector saw nice gains[4] on the day; Express (NYSE:EXPR[5]) and American Eagle (NYSE:AEO[6]) were among some of the day’s biggest gainers on earnings, with 9% and 7% improvements, respectively. JCPenney (NYSE:JCP[7]) also saw shares rise more than 4% on news of a pickup in Izod sales.

Big-box retailer Costco (NASDAQ:COST[8]) joined a host of other companies[9] in announcing a special dividend before year’s end — in COST’s case, a $7 one-time payout per share. Investors pushed Costco stock up more than 6%.

Chasing the short-sellers[10] Wednesday was Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ:GMCR[11]), which surged nearly 28% on Street-crushing earnings and a sound outlook.

Trina Solar (NYSE:TSL[12]) charged more than 20% despite posting higher losses than anticipated, and the solar sector followed TSL higher; among other Wednesday winners were Yingli Green Energy (NYSE:YGE[13], +13.3%) and Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ[14], +12.2%).

Finally, Knight Capital (NYSE:KCG[15]) continued its recent rebound after it received a $1 billion buyout bid from privately held Getco LLC, a Chicago-based high-frequency trader — an offer that exceeds Virtu Financial LLC‘s recent offer. Including Wednesday’s 15% gains, KCG shares are up 36% in the past five trading days.

Three Up

• Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN[16]): Up 11.6% (46 cents) to $4.42. (Read more here[17])
• Deckers (NASDAQ:DECK[18]): Up 8.4% ($3.04) to $39.31.
• Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA[19]): Up 6.8% (16 cents) to $2.51.

Three Down

• Jos. A. Bank (NASDAQ:JOSB[20]): down 7.3% ($3.43) to $43.85.
• Sears Holdings (NASDAQ:SHLD[21]): Down 3.4% ($1.57) to $44.48..
• Pandora (NYSE:P[22]): Down 3.1% (26 cents) to $8.18

Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/11/a-reversal-of-fortune-lifts-markets-wednesdays-ip-market-recap-hpq-axp-aeo-jcp-gmcr-cost/

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