Not even the weekend could slow down the charging markets, which picked up right where they left off Monday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average set an all-time high for the fifth consecutive day.
Investors had some time to digest last week’s improved housing and employment news. Meanwhile, this week’s data will be focused on the retail world, with numbers for February sales figures due out Wednesday, along with January’s business inventory report.
The Dow finished up 0.35% to end at 14447.29, while the S&P 500 headed higher by 0.32% to close at 1556.22, or just more than 1% off its October 2007 high. The Nasdaq staged a late rally to finish up 0.26% at 3252.87.
Smartphone maker Blackberry (NASDAQ:BBRY) saw its shares soar ahead more than 14% amid a rumor that Chinese computer maker Lenovo (PINK:LNVGY) might be interested in a takeover bid.
Headphone and audio accessory maker Skullcandy (NASDAQ:SKUL) rebounded more than 3% Monday following Friday’s massive selloff, which was sparked by a subpar quarterly report.
Carl Icahn signed a confidentiality letter to gain access to Dell‘s (NASDAQ:DELL) books ahead of its proposed privatization by Silver Lake Partners. Icahn is seeking either a higher price or a special dividend in lieu of the merger. DELL shares moved up more than 1%.
Heading the other way was Dick’s Sporting Goods (NYSE:DKS), which tumbled more than 10% after reporting earnings and revenues well short of expectations, and announcing expectations of a slowdown in same-store sales for the first quarter.
Three Up
- Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA): Up 10.4% (37 cents) to $3.94. (Read more here.)
- RadioShack (NYSE:RSH): Up 6.4% (21 cents) to $3.48.
- Radian (NYSE:RDN): Up 5.9% (56 cents) to $10.09.
Three Down
- Michael Kors (NYSE:KORS): Down 5.5% ($3.19) to $55.
- Akamai (NASDAQ:AKAM): Down 4.4% ($1.64) to $35.60.
- Cliff’s Natural Resources (NYSE:CLF): Down 3.6% (90 cents) to $23.83.
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.
