A little bit of merger mania provided a little electricity to Monday’s trading day, but broader early-day gains faded quickly, and the major indices finished the day on the down side to start the new week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.12% to close at 15335.28, while the S&P 500 gave up 0.07% to close at 1666.29, and the Nasdaq also slipped 0.07% to finish at 3496.43.
Yahoo (YHOO) made a weekend rumor official Monday, announcing it it will spend $1.1 billion in cash to buy blog site Tumblr. In trying to soothe investor concerns about the move, the company vowed not to “screw it up.” The deal will pay out Tumblr’s 26-year-old founder David Carp around $220 million, though he will stay on with Tumblr after the acquisition. Investors were hardly “wowed” by the news, however, as YHOO ticked up fractionally.
While not quite as splashy, generic pharmaceuticals maker Actavis (ACT) saw its shares move ahead over 1% after announcing it would buy specialty pharmaceuticals maker Warner Chilcott (WCRX) in an $8.5 billion stock-for-stock transaction. Warner Chilcott shareholders will get 0.16 shares in the new company per one WCRX share, which translates to $20.08 per share. WCRX rose over 2% on the news.
Shares of solar cell manufacturer JA Solar (JASO) soared more than 70% after it announced shipments of its solar cells exceeded company estimates on strong demand in Japan. The news sent the sector higher, with shares of Suntech Power (STP, +27%), Trina Solar (TSL, +20%), and Jinkosolar (JKS, +20%) all moving on the news.
Finally, Chesapeake Energy (CHK) shares moved ahead nearly 3% after the natural gas and oil producer introduced Robert Douglas Lawler as its new CEO. Lawler was previously with Anadarko Petroleum (APC).
Three Up
- James River Coal (JRCC): Up 15.2% (37 cents) to $2.81.
- Molycorp (MCP): Up 10.7% (70 cents) to $7.22.
- First Solar (FSLR): Up 9.8% ($4.91) to $54.89.
Three Down
- Alaska Air (ALK): Down 8.4% ($5.48) to $59.73.
- Red Hat (RHT): Down 4.3% ($2.34) to $52.65.
- Campbell Soup (CPB): Down 3.9% ($1.85) to $45.78.
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.
