Closing Bell Report
The markets closed mixed despite rebounding oil prices as fewer people than expected filed for unemployment benefits. The Dow added 13 points to 11,430 while Nasdaq fell 9 points to 2380.
On the upside
Anti-wrinkle skin tightening device maker Thermage (Nasdaq: THRM) received an unsolicited acquisition offer valued at approximately $132.3 million.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Stephen D. Walker issued an investor note saying that production will increase for Kinross Gold (NYSE: KGC) in 2009.
IAC/InterActive (NYSE: IACID) completed the spin off of four separate businesses, home shopping network HSN Inc. (NYSE: HSNI), ticketing service Ticketmaster (NYSE: TKTM), time-share company Interval Leisure Group (NYSE: IILG), and lending and real estate business Tree.com (NYSE: TREE).
On the downside
Piper Jaffray analyst Mark Murphy downgraded Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) after the company forecast third quarter revenue below estimates.
Penn Treaty American (NYSE: PTA) provided a notification of breach to reinsurer Imagine International Reinsurance for business obligations prior to 2002.
Surging oil prices weighed down shares of US Airways Group (NYSE: LCC).
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of nearly 5 to 4 on the NYSE and by nearly 5 to 3 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks tumbled 6 points to 725.
