The markets ended mostly flat Friday after a mixed bag of unemployment data. The Dow finished up 0.15%, the Nasdaq finished down 0.25% and the S&P 500 ended down 0.03%.
Here are some of Friday’s market winners and losers.
Winners
AK Steel Holding Corp. (AKS) Shares of AK Steel continued to rise Friday after Thursday’s announcement of a $70 surcharge to all invoices for July 2009 shipped orders of electrical and stainless steels. Rising steel prices may be indicative of higher demand and the stock rallied 6.8% to close at $17.63, up $1.14.
Flir Systems Inc. (FLIR) Defense contractor Flir rallied Friday after an earlier announcement that competitor Axsys Technologies would be acquired by General Dynamics. Raymond James analysts say the $634 million cost of that acquisition is higher than the valuation of Flir despite Axsys narrower market and that Flir may be under-valued and due for a rise. Shares were up 6% gaining $1.38 to close at $24.50.
Monster Worldwide Inc. (MWW) As job losses slowed this month, there is hope that a rebound in the job sector may be on the horizon. Shares of many staffing companies rallied Friday led by Monster Worldwide, which closed at $24.50, up $1.38 or 6%.
Interpublic Group of Companies (IPG) The advertising and marketing company reported Friday that its revised exposure to the General Motor’s bankruptcy was $50 million. Company executives had previously indicated that they might be owed as much as $150 million. This reduced exposure helped drive the stock up 5.6% to close at $5.70, a gain 30 cents.
Allegheny Energy Inc. (AYE) Shares of electricity provider were up 5.3% Friday after the market responded positively to the results of the second round of auctions to purchase power starting in 2011. The stock closed at $26.62, up $1.33 or 5.3%.
Losers
Ciena Corporation. (CIEN) Shares of communications networking equipment company were down Friday after the company reported disappointing earnings last night with a larger than expected loss per share of 25 cents. The stock closed at $10.77 down 86 cents or 7.4%.
Harley Davidson Inc. (HOG) The company hit a bumpy road after Citigroup analysts cut the stock’s rating to "sell" from "hold" citing weak retail sales trends and international sales. Shares were down $1.26 or 6.7% closing at $17.45.
E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co (DD) Shares of the diversified chemical company dropped Friday after analysts at Bank of America downgraded the stock to "underperform" from "neutral" based on valuation and company fundamentals concerns. Shares ended at $27.00 down $1.71 or 6%.
Newport Mining Corp. (NEM) Newport Mining shares, which have been performing well recently, lost 5.5% Friday as investors seemed to be cashing in on recent gains in materials stocks. This profit-taking drove the stock down $2.60 to close at $44.84.
MBIA Incorporated (MBI) Shares of this insurance company were down 5.4% after Standard & Poor’s downgraded its counterparty credit rating. Shares closed at $6.28, down 36 cents or 5.4%.
