Alcoa‘s (AA) ceremonial kickoff to earnings season was a positive one, with its edging of expectations helping to start fan the market’s flames Tuesday.
All three major indices moved higher for a fourth straight day. The S&P 500 was tops, up 0.72% to close at 1652.32. The Nasdaq moved up 0.56% to finish at 3504.26, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average close 0.50% higher at 15300.34.
The big M&A news of the day came from the supermarket sector, where Kroger (KR) proposed a $2.4 billion ($49.38 per share) acquisition of Harris Teeter Supermarkets (HTSI). KR’s offer represents a 33.7% premium over HTSI’s Monday closing price. KR shares rose more than 2%.
FedEx (FDX) got a 4% push amid rumors that Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital was considering a stake in the deliver services company.
Bookseller Barnes & Noble (BKS) saw its shares rise more than 5% on news that CEO William Lynch resigned effective immediately, taking the fall for disappointing sales of BKS’s Nook tablet. Founder and Chairman Leonard Riggio indicated that more changes are on the way.
Sirius XM Radio (SIRI) moved ahead more than 3% after it raised its estimates for full-year net subscriber growth to by 1.5 million thanks to strength in the auto industry, and said it reached the 25 million subscriber level.
Tesla Motors (TSLA) extended its 260%-plus YTD run as it gets set to move into the Nasdaq-100 on Monday, replacing Oracle (ORCL), which is moving to the New York Stock Exchange.
Lastly, shares of IBM (IBM) fell nearly 3% — the biggest loss on the Dow — after the stock was downgraded from “buy” to “neutral” by Goldman Sachs, which lowered its price target from $220 to $200. The move follows a separate downgrade from Barclays, which lowered the stock to “overweight.”
Three Up
- Freescale Semiconductor (FSL): Up 8.6% ($1.18) to $14.91.
- Health Management Associates (HMA): Up 8.3% ($1.28) to $16.75.
- Alaska Air (ALK): Up 7.7% ($3.98) to $55.93.
Three Down
- Intuitive Surgical (ISRG): Down 16.2% ($80.78) to $419.30.
- JinkoSolar (JKS): Down 10.6% ($1.15) to $9.73.
- Micron Technology (MU): Down 6.4% (89 cents) to $13.14.
Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing he does not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
