Consumer Confidence Recovers But Markets Slip
On the upside
Ocean Bio-Chem (Nasdaq: OBCI) reported record earnings and record sales for 2009.
Rodman & Renshaw initiated coverage of Opexa Therapeutics (Nasdaq: OPXA) with a Market Outperform rating and set a price target of $6 on the biopharmaceutical.
The Irish government will purchase 1.93 billion euros worth of loans from the Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) at a discount.
On the downside
Charming Shoppes (Nasdaq: CHRS) narrowed fourth quarter losses but reported lower same store sales in the first quarter.
Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Timothy Horan downgraded Neutral Tandem (NYSE: TNDM) after the patent office rejected 23 claims made about a patent held by Neutral Tandem.
Citibank (NYSE: C) granted Zale (NYSE: ZLC) an extra month to either pay a fee for low sales on its private label credit cards or end the program.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin of more than 10 to 9 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks eased a fraction to 681.
