Well, out of the frying pan and into the fire. Markets were unable to sustain last week’s hot performance — it was the best week for all three major indices since December 2011 — as investors turned their attention forward to looming Q4 earnings reports and debt ceiling discussions.
The result was a quick trip down, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 0.38% to 13,384.29, the S&P 500 falling 0.31% to 1,461.89 and the Nasdaq dropping just a fraction to 3,098.81.
Trading in bank stocks was surprisingly light and mixed given the $10 billion settlement agreement on bad mortgages that Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) reached with Fannie Mae (PINK:FNMA), a $8.5 billion agreement reached by 10 banks with Federal regulators on relief for troubled homeowners, and after the sector dodged serious legislation and reform requirements in the Basel Committee on Banking Supervisors international banking standards.
Also Monday, housing information service company Zillow (NASDAQ:Z) soared almost 7% while rival Trulia (NYSE:TRLA) gained more than 5% on very little company-specific news (though real estate industry veteran Chris Crocker is joining the Zillow team as a vice president).
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) touched a new high before settling in with a nearly 4% gain as Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) raised its rating on the stock to “overweight” and upped its target price to $365 per share, or roughly 40% more than Friday’s closing price.
Shares of 3D printing firm 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) continued a recent run with another 3% gain on the day, bringing the company’s six-month appreciation up to just under 70%.
Lastly, shares of entertainment giant Disney (NYSE:DIS) gave up more than 2% on news of possible layoffs; the timing and size of the cuts weren’t revealed.
Three Up
- Molycorp (NYSE:MCP): Up 12.2% ($1.26) to $11.56.
- Vivus (NASDAQ:VVUS): Up 8.2% ($1.12) to $14.87.
- Cirrus (NASDAQ:CRUS): Up 4.7% ($1.35) to $29.67.
Three Down
- Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN): Down 7.1% ($3.86) to $50.90.
- First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR): Down 6.6% ($2.22) to $31.37.
- Mako Surgical (NASDAQ:MAKO): Down 5.5% (66 cents) to $11.33.
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.
