GE, Comcast Go Dealing — Wednesday’s IP Market Recap

by Marc Bastow | February 13, 2013 4:55 pm

[1]Markets were mixed throughout the day Wednesday as investors worked through President Obama’s State of the Union speech, more earnings reports and January’s retail sales figures (which came in well below those of December).

At the end of the day, the Nasdaq came up the big winner, rising 0.3% to 3,196.88, and the S&P 500 also ended up in positive territory, closing fractionally higher at 1,520.33. The Dow Jones Industrial Average could not keep pace, closing down 0.26% at 13,982.91.

General Electric (NYSE:GE[2]) was the best-performing stock in the Dow with 3% gains after the recovering industrial giant said late Tuesday it would sell the remaining 49% interest[3] in NBCUniversal to cable company Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA[4]). Comcast also rose nearly 3% Wednesday.

Disappointing retail sales numbers, coupled with Obama’s proposal to raise the nation’s minimum wage to $9 an hour, weighed on McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD[5], -1.2%) to the lowest close in the Dow 30.

Real estate search engine Trulia (NYSE:TRLA[6]) soared 22% after reporting better-than-expected sales[7] to extend an 80% run year-to-date. Meanwhile, daily-deals site Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN[8]) jumped 5% after Sterne Agee upgraded the company to “buy” from “neutral”[9] and set a $9 price target.

Deere (NYSE:DE)[10] reported quarterly earnings that topped expectations before the opening bell; however, the farm equipment maker said economic uncertainty and government policy are “undermining business confidence and restraining growth.”[11] Shares fell more than 3% on the day.

Shares of mining and natural resources company Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE:CLF[12]) dropped nearly 20% announcing plans to sell stock and slash its dividend by 75% to 15 cents per share.

Lastly, Restaurant chain Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ:BWLD[13]) dropped nearly 6% after announcing earnings Tuesday evening that came in below Street estimates despite improving revenues.

Tomorrow’s notable earnings announcements include reports from Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX[14]), General Motors (NYSE:GM[15]) and CBS (NYSE:CBS[16]).

Three Up

• Zillow (NASDAQ:Z[17]): Up 7.8% ($2.82) to $38.97.
• Albemarle (NYSE:ALB[18]): Up 5.5% ($3.45) to $66.15.
• Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX[19]): Up 4.7% ($8.28) to $186.23.

Three Down

• Rackspace (NYSE:RAX[20]): Down 19.6% ($14.68) to $60.30.
• Ruckus (NASDAQ:RKUS[21]): Down 11.8% ($3.05) to $22.82.
• Blackberry (NASDAQ:BBRY[22]): Down 8% ($1.21) to $13.99. (Read more here[23])

Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing he is long GE. 

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/02/wednesdays-ip-market-recap-ge-cmcsa-ko-mcd-grpn/

---