Career News 24/7: STOCKS CONTINUE 2012 RALLY AFTER BIG COMEBACK: Here's What You Need To Know, January 4, 2012

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

STOCKS CONTINUE 2012 RALLY AFTER BIG COMEBACK: Here's What You Need To Know, January 4, 2012

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Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Sure, stocks gained less than a percent. But this was on the tail of yesterday's big gains. Also, some bad reads from Europe and a gloomy note from PIMCO's Bill Gross couldn't keep the stock markets down for too long.

First, the scoreboard:

Dow: 12,418.4, +21.0, +0.2%
S&P 500: 1,277.3, +0.2, +0.0%
NASDAQ: 2,648.4, -0.4, -0.0%

And now, the top stories:

It's not news that Europe's troubles are still unresolved. On one hand, Germany had a very successful debt auction this morning. The country boasts a 10-year yield, which is on par with US Treasuries. Elsewhere in Europe, things got worse. Spain's borrowing costs rose on speculation that the debt-laden country would seek financial aid from the IMF and European Union. Hungary's currency fell to new lows as the country runs low on cash, which could ultimately turn into a major problem for neighboring Austria. Italian bank UniCredit saw its shares plummet after it raised a massive amount of capital at a huge discount to its recent share price. Here's Why The Pain Is Slowly Returning To Spain >
European stocks sold off with Italy closing down 2%. U.S. stocks fell during early trading and only fell further on some disappointing economic data. November factory orders climbed 1.8% month-over-month, missing expectations for 2.0% growth. October's numbers, however, were revised upwards.
Markets then staged a big rally. Throughout the day, we got monthly auto sales data, and the Detroit three all beat expectations. Chrysler sales jumped 37%. Ford sales increased 10%. GM sales climbed 4.7%.
Some leaders in the stock market included consumer-related momentum names. Earlier this morning, Goldman Sachs added yoga-pants maker Lululemon and burrito assembler Chipotle to the brokerage firm's exclusive Conviction Buy list. Lululemon jumped 8.8% and Chipotle climbed 2.2%.
Another beat-up momentum name that soared today was Netflix. The company said its subscribers streamed 2 billion minutes worth of content in the last quarter. This announcement was followed by an extremely bullish note from BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield. The stock closed up 11.4%.
Shares of Eastman Kodak on the other hand dived 28.2%. The WSJ reports that the beleaguered film maker is preparing to file for bankruptcy. The company was also alerted by the New York Stock Exchange that it could get de-listed if the stock continued to trade below $1 per share.
Yahoo announced that Scott Thompson, the President of PayPal, would be taking over as CEO. However, this new direction wasn't welcomed by investors, who sent the stock lower by 3.1%.
Don't Miss: How To Protect Yourself From The Biggest Risks Of 2012 >