The March jobs report will come a day too late, as lingering European worries continued bearing down on the markets. On Thursday, the S&P 500 finished marginally down for the day and wound up with a loss of less than 1% for the early-to-close week.
Electronic storage companies took losses on the day, with Seagate (NASDAQ:STX) dropping by more than 6% and Western Digital (NYSE:WDC) down 3.7%. No major news was released for the sector Thursday. However, Seagate and Western Digital still are sitting on large gains for the year of 57% and 28%, respectively. (Read more about the sector here.)
Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY) took flight Thursday after its earnings report out Wednesday was met with approval. The company reported earnings of $351 million ($1.48 per share), up 24% year-over-year and beating estimates of $1.33 per share. Revenue was up more than 9%, and same-store sales increased by almost 7%.
The good news prompted investors to trump shares up more than 8% on the day to an all-time high of $71.85, and Wedbush increased its price target to $82.
Also Thursday, reports said the NASDAQ OMX Group (NASDAQ:NDAQ) was chosen to list the Facebook IPO. The company will list as FB. The announcement clearly doesn’t help the NYSE Euronext (NYSE:NYX), but IPOPlaybook’s Tom Taulli says the New York Stock Exchange has nothing to worry about.
Three Up
- Corrections Corp. of America (NYSE:CXW): Up 6.5% ($1.78) to $28.99.
- Verifone Systems (NYSE:PAY): Up 5.9% ($2.95) to $52.96.
- Cinemark Holdings (NYSE:CNK): Up 4.8% ($1.06) to $23.05.
Three Down
- Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ): Down 12.5% ($3.08) to $21.61.
- Invensense (NASDAQ:INVN): Down 6.9% ($1.17) to $15.88.
- Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE:HOV): Down 6.1% (13 cents) to $2.02.
Kyle Woodley is the assistant editor of InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Check out recaps from previous trading days here.
