Stocks are trading higher this morning thanks to positive data. Unemployment benefits surprised investors as it fell again last to a near four year low, suggesting that the labor market may finally be strengthening. This positive data helped keep investors attention away from Moody’s warning that it may downgrade over 10 global and more than 100 European financial institutions. The Dow is up 77 points today, the Nasdaq is up 16 points and the S&P 500 is up 7 points.
HyperDynamics Corporation (NYSE:HDY) is down 31.26% today at $1.3885. HDY is down on heavy volume with 22.7 million shares traded today. The stock usually trades 3.4 million shares a day on average. HDY shares are down today after an exploration well drilled by the company showed low amounts of oil. The company has a market cap of 231.87 million.
Ancestry.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACOM) is down 19.27% in early trading at $23.02. ACOM has traded 3.1 million shares so far today, up from its average of 884 thousand shares. Ancestry.com is down today after reporting fourth quarter results. The company beat profit estimates, but sees subscriber growth slowing in 2012. The company has a market cap of 1.02 billion.
Digital Generation, Inc. (NASDAQ:DGIT) is down 18.70% today at $11.05. DGIT has traded 1.7 million shares today, more than 4 time its average volume. Digital Generation shares are falling right now after posting quarterly sales below expectations and ad volumes fell 20%. The company has a market cap of 303.51 million.
Avis Budget Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR) is down 14.67% right now at $12.45. CAR has traded 5.2 million shares so far today, up from its average of 1.8 million shares. Avis shares are slipping after reporting a loss in the fourth quarter and saying first quarter adjusted earnings will likely fall from last year. The company has a market cap of 1.30 billion.
Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc. (AMEX:PLX) is down 10.28% today at $5.50. PLX has traded 1.4 million shares today, well above its daily average of 168 thousand shares. PLX shares are down after the company announced offering of 4.5 million shares at $5.25 per share. The company has a market cap of 468.36 million.
VASCO Data Security International (NASDAQ:VDSI) is down 9.53% today at $8.83. VDSI has traded 958 thousand shares so far today, well above its daily average of 227 thousand shares. VASCO Data Security announced fourth quarter results earlier today. The company has a market cap of 334.47 million.
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