Stocks are trimming their early morning gains after two data sets came out pointing to a struggling recovery. First up was the Case Shiller Home Price Index which fell to a 9 year low. So much for a housing recovery.
Next up was consumer confidence numbers. May come as a shock to some, but rising gas prices do have a way of crimping consumers. The index fell to 70.6. Both numbers show that while we may be recovering, the economic doldrums are still there for sizable slice of the populace are mired in poor economic conditions.
What is probably needed at this point is a fresh round of stimulus spending. ut the current political climate will prevent that. This is where the Fed will step in with some sort of new monetary easing policy, be it QE3 or some new name. Regardless, the recovery is halting at best based of the constant flow of data coming in.
Hot Stocks to Watch
Opnext, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPXT) is up 46.01% today at $1.65. OPXT is rallying on heavy volume today with 7.1 million shares traded, well above its daily average of 368 thousand shares. OPXT shares are up today on news that Oclaro, Inc. will buy Opnext for $179 million. The company has a market cap of 149 million.
Zhongpin Inc. (NASDAQ:HOGS) is up 28.45% in early trading today at $11.83. HOGS has traded 2.4 million shares so far today, 8 times its average volume. Zhongpin announced earlier today the receipt of going private proposal from its Chairman for $13.50 per share. The company has a market cap of 443.90 million.
pSivida Corp. (NASDAQ:PSDV) is up 16.39% today at $2.13. PSDV has traded 248 thousand shares this morning, well above its daily average of 89 thousand shares. PSDV shares have climbed about $0.60 in the past two days. The company has a market cap of 44.10 million.
Vermillion, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRML) is up 15.13% today at $1.8190. VRML has traded just over 2 million shares already today, 5 times its average volume. Vermillion reported fourth quarter results earlier today and beat EPS estimates by $0.05 and also beat estimates on revenue. The company has a market cap of 27.01 million.
XOMA Corporation (NASDAQ:XOMA) is up 13.92% this morning at $2.69. XOMA has traded 2.1 million shares so far today, 3 times its daily average volume. XOMA shares have jumped as much as $0.60 a share this week. The company has a market cap of 187.25 million.
Wabash National Corporation (NYSE:WNC) is up 12.38% today at $11.00. WNC is up on above average volume with 2.7 million shares traded. The stock trades 1.1 million shares a day on average. Wabash National announced today it will buy Walker Group for $360 million. The company has a market cap of 766.56 million.
Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE:MCP) is up 10.28% in early trading at $32.78. MCP has traded 5.7 million shares so far today, above its daily average of 4.2 million shares. MCP shares are up more than $7 a share this month. The company has a market cap of 2.75 billion.
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