NASDAQ Stocks Rallying as Market Trades Higher: WOLF, UTSI, DNDN, MU, CLWR, DMND

The stock market opened higher today as investors are optimistic about the U.S. economy and the European debt crisis. Stocks gave up some of these gains briefly this morning after the government said business inventories rose 0.7% in the previous month, slightly higher than the forecasted 0.6%. Stocks went right back up though following a positive retail sales report. Retail sales rose 1.1% making it the largest gain in five months. It will be interesting to see what the next few months hold for retail sales as gas prices have increased drastically over the past month.

The Dow is up 51 points this morning, the Nasdaq is up 15 points and the S&P 500 is up 6 points.

NASDAQ Stocks

Great Wolf Resorts, Inc. (NASDAQ:WOLF) is up 22.43% this morning at $5.14. WOLF has traded 3.5 million shares so far today, well above its average volume of 135 thousand shares. WOLF shares are up this morning after Apollo buys the company for $165 million. The company has a market cap of 161.58 million.

UTStarcom Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:UTSI) is up 9.42% today at $1.51. UTSI is up on heavy volume today with 934 thousand shares so far, 3 times its daily average. UTSI shares are up today after reporting fourth quarter results. Revenue for the fourth quarter increased 9.6% from the same quarter a year ago. The company has a market cap of 239.49 million.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ:DNDN) is up 5.16% today at $10.39. DNDN has traded 3.7 million shares so far today and trades 10.7 million shares a day on average. DNDN shares are up today, but have fallen about $5 a share over the past month. DNDN most recent sell off came after Johnson & Johnson’s prostate drug beat placebo in drug trial. The company has a market cap of 1.52 billion.

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) is up 4.58% this morning at $8.45. MU has traded 9.4 million shares so far today and trades 30.2 million shares a day on average. Pacific Crest raised its price target for Micron to $12 from $10. The company has a market cap of 8.36 billion.

Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ:CLWR) is up 2.22% today at $2.12. CLWR hit an intraday high of $2.16 with over 3 million shares traded. CLWR trades 11.4 million shares a day on average. CLWR shares are rallying today after the stock dipped about $0.20 over the past two days. The company has a market cap of 970 million.

Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:DMND) is up 3.46% today at $25.38. DMND has traded 1.5 million shares so far today and trades 2.9 million shares a day on average. Diamond Foods announced today its Emerald, Kettle and Pop Secret snack brands are seeing an increase in share at U.S. retailers while also raising prices on the products. The company has a market cap of 563.35 million.