Stocks opened higher today thanks to a gain in retail sales last month and better than expected earnings from Citigroup. Retail sales jumped 1.1% in September according to the Commerce Department. Not all economic news was good though after a measurement of manufacturing in New York fell to -6.16, the third straight month of contraction. Economists were expecting a reading of -4.55.
Citigroup saw its profit fall in the third quarter, but still posted earnings that beat expectations. The bank reported earnings of $1.06 per share and revenue of $19.4 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $0.96 a share with $18.71 billion in revenue.
The major stock averages are barely positive this morning with the Dow up 3 points, the Nasdaq up 2 points and the S&P 500 up 1 point.
Stocks to Watch
Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ:CLWR) Is up 25.94% this morning at $2.92. Volume is extremely heavy on Clearwire in early trading with 52.8 million shares traded, nearly 40 million shares more than its daily average. Talks between Softbank and Sprint ended with Softbank buying 70% of Sprint’s shares in a deal worth about $20 billion. Clearwire has a market cap of 1.56 billion.
Yongye International, Inc. (NASDAQ:YONG) is up 16.28% today at $5.56. YONG has traded 1.4 million shares so far today, well above its daily average of 242 thousand shares. YONG shares are up today on news the CEO has offered to take the company private for $6.60 per share. The company has a market cap of 284.52 million.
Neuralstem, Inc. (NYSE:CUR) is up 5.49% today at $1.1601. CUR has traded 343 thousand shares so far today and trades 1.3 million shares a day on average. CUR shares are rallying today on positive results for its NSI-566 spinal cord cells. Neuralstem has a market cap of 62.22 million.
New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE:EDU) is up 5.25% this morning at $18.09. EDU has traded 4.1 million shares so far today and trades 5.4 million shares a day on average. EDU shares were upgraded by Oppenheimer this morning. The company has a market cap of 2.83 billion.
Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:DNKN) is up 4.05% today at $32.88. DNKN has traded 1.1 million shares so far today and trades 1.9 million shares a day on average. DNKN are up 7.52% over the past five days and nearly 10% on the month. The company has a market cap of 3.97 billion.
Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AEGR) is up 6.14% this morning at $16.94. AEGR is trading above average volume today with 528 thousand shares. The stock typically trades 173 thousand shares a day on average. AEGR shares are rallying today after an FDA panel said lomitapide data supports “appropriate use.” The company has a market cap of 430.41 million.
About Danny Fisher
