Facebook Trading at Highest Price Since Week of IPO

On an average day, over the past year, shares of Facebook have hovered in the low-to-mid 20s, at least 10 points beneath the company's debut price of $38 per share in May of last year.

But Thursday was not an average day.

Following the news of a massive earnings beat on Wednesday afternoon, shares of Facebook are trading at their highest levels since IPO, at nearly $34 per share about an hour before the market closes. That's a single-day gain of nearly 30 percent.

Probably worth noting, too, that Facebook's trading volume is at a high, with more than 300 million shares exchanging hands before market close. That's a volume number that's second only to the company's IPO date, where more than half a billion shares moved through the market.

What drove the massive gains? Facebook finally showed a drastic shift from desktop to mobile monetization in its earnings numbers, as mobile ad revenue now accounts for 41 percent of Facebook's overall ads business.

Mobile first? Perhaps not quite yet, but soon enough.

Nasdaq, J.C. Penney, Others in Hacking Case, Were "Targets of Opportunity"

Beginning in 2005 and ending last summer, the computer systems of Nasdaq, OMX Group, J.C. Penney Co., Carrefour SA and around a dozen other companies were breached by hackers, resulting in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars. Federal prosecutors in New Jersey, who made the charges public on Thursday, called the case the largest hacking and data-breach scheme ever prosecuted in the U.S. in terms of the number of hacks and the amount of funds taken, the WSJ's Chad Bray reported. The investigation is continuing, prosecutors said.

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Apple leads tech rally

“Shares of Apple Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc. led an early tech sector rally on Tuesday, lifting the Nasdaq Composite Index back up above 3,000,” Benjamin Pimentel reports for MarketWatch.

“Apple stock gained 2.4% to $543.70. In a note, ISI Group analyst Brian Marshall cited China Unicom's announcement of more than 300,000 preorders for the iPhone 5 set to go on sale on Friday. China Unicom is China's second largest carrier,” Pimentel reports. “‘We continue to believe the iPhone 5 will be in about 100 countries and about 240 carriers by the end of this month,’ Marshall wrote.”

Pimentel reports, “Also on the rise were shares of Texas Instruments, up more than 3% at $30.81. Late Monday, the chip maker narrowed its earnings and sales forecast for the fourth quarter.”

Read more in the full article here.

U.S. stocks fall to lowest level since August; Apple extends plunge to 23 percent off all-time September high

“U.S. stocks fell, sending the Standard & Poor's 500 Index toward its lowest level since August, as a European Union official said a decision on unlocking funds for Greece may not be made until late November,” Rita Nazareth and Sarah Jones report for Bloomberg.

“Apple Inc. (AAPL), the world's most valuable company, retreated 3.1 percent, extending its plunge since its September high to 23 percent,” Nazareth and Jones report. “The S&P 500 lost 0.7 percent to 1,384.22 at 3:28 p.m. New York time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 60.97 points, or 0.5 percent, to 12,871.76. Trading in S&P 500 companies was 10 percent above the 30-day average at this time of day.”

Nazareth and Jones report, “‘It's hard bargaining for Greece,’ said Alan Gayle, a senior strategist at RidgeWorth Capital Management in Richmond, Virginia, which oversees about $47 billion. ‘The risk of a recession is still out there. Apple might be a victim of its own success because it's risen so much. There's nothing wrong with the company. Yet with its huge market cap, as Apple goes, so goes the broader market.’ ... Apple, the most valuable company, slumped 3.1 percent to $540.65. The shares entered a bear market yesterday, after falling more than 20 percent from its recent high... Equities tumbled yesterday as investors' focus turned to the budget debate and Europe's debt crisis following President Barack Obama's re-election.”

Read more in the full article here.

Related article:
Apple shares hit new all-time intraday and closing highs – September 19, 2012

U.S. stocks deeply in the red in post-election selloff

“Stocks remained deeply in the red in a post-election selloff Wednesday, triggered by worries over the looming ‘fiscal cliff’ and as fears over Europe’s economy reemerged,” JeeYeon Park reports for CNBC. “The Dow tumbled below 13,000, while the S&P 500 broke 1,400, both for the first time since early September. ‘It's now how quickly we can focus on the ‘fiscal cliff’ and coming up with a resolution-that’s certainly the next item on the agenda for the market,’ said Art Hogan, managing director of Lazard Capital Markets.”

“The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly plunged more than 350 points in its biggest one-day loss in nearly a year, dragged heavily by Bank of America (-5.43%) and JPMorgan (-4.52%). The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were also sharply lower. The CBOE Volatility Index, widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, spiked above 19,” Park reports. “All key S&P sectors were firmly in the red, led by energy and financials.”

Park reports, “Apple [AAPL $562.435, -17.7645 (-3.06%)] fell more than 3 percent, pushing the tech giant down a jaw-dropping 20 percent from its all-time high of $705.07 in mid-September. The stock is now trading in bear market territory.”

“Ratings agency Fitch said Obama needs to move quickly to avoid the ‘fiscal cliff,’ adding that failure to address the issue would likely result in a downgrade in 2013,” Park reports. “Wall Street had favored Romney and the Republican ticket in part because it preferred their approach of retaining tax cuts, and making spending cuts. The Obama Administration favors raising taxes on the richest Americans, and also increasing capital gains and dividend taxes.”

Read more in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]