Pharma, Tech Drive the Dow: Monday’s IP Market Recap

by Marc Bastow | June 3, 2013 5:07 pm

[1]Friday’s bloody ending to May[2] gave way to cautious optimism on Monday as markets rebounded on an up day driven primarily by sector and corporate news.

The Dow Industrial Average forged ahead 0.92% to close at 15254.03 while the S&P 500 moved up 0.59% to end at 1640.42, and the Nasdaq closed with a rush, ending up 0.27% at 3465.37.

Tech stocks enjoyed a nice rise, as Intel (INTC[3]) rose nearly 4%, the highest flyer on the Dow, after being upgraded from “market perform” to “outperform” by FRB. Meanwhile Microsoft (MSFT[4]) rose nearly 2% on rumors it will change its business model [5]towards a “devices and services” focus rather than software. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ[6]) also rose nearly 2% on rumors that the company is looking to sell its stake in Indian software company Mphasis for $1 billion.

Pharmaceuticals also helped drive the rally, as Merck (MRK[7]) shares rose more than 3% after announcing a positive study for a skin cancer treatment. The news boosted Dow component Pfizer (PFE[8], +1.91%) while S&P component Bristol-Meyers (BMY[9], +3.43%) added to its gains.

The auto industry moved ahead as Ford (F[10]) and General Motors (GM[11]) each gained more than 1% after reporting stronger than expected auto sales[12] for May. Toyota (TM[13]) didn’t share in the good news, dropping a little more than 1% by day’s end, and electric car company Tesla (TSLA[14]) gave some recent gains [15]back, dropping over 5% on the day.

Finally, bidding opened today[16] for a lunch with Warren Buffett, starting at $25,000 on eBay (EBAY[17]). Last year’s (anonymous) winning bidder ponied up $3.5 million for the lunch, with all proceeds going to GLIDE, a charity serving disadvantaged people.

Three Up

• Mannking (MNKD[18]): Up 14.56% (97 cents) to $7.63
• Sodastream (SODA[19]): Up 8.24% ($5.26) to $69.06
• Gamestop (GME[20]): Up 3.74% ($1.24) to $34.53

Three Down

• Infinity Pharmaceuticals (INFI[21]): Down 39.04% ($10.59) to $16.39
• Pandora (P[22]): Down 10.58% ($1.80) to $15.22 (Read more here[23])
• 3D Systems (DDD[24]): Down 5.32% ($2.58) to $45.94

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

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/06/mondays-ip-market-recap-mrk-pfe-msft-intc-f-p/

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