U.S. stocks closed flat overnight, losing steam at the end of the day after rising early afternoon on the back of stronger oil prices. Investors became cautious ahead of a number of economic data due out this week.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 3 points to 9,509. The S&P500 Index fell half a point to 1,026 and the NASDAQ dropped 3 points to 2,018.
In company news: Shares in global semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE:AMD) rose 8.11 per cent to $4. Citigroup revised its rating of the chipmaker from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’ saying that the company’s businesses are starting to stabilise.
Shares in Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) surged 41.67 per cent to $1.70 and shares in Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) rallied 18.5 per cent to $2.05. Both companies saw their shares rally on Monday, following news that the Federal Reserve has bought $5.6 billion of Fannie, Freddie and Federal Home Loan Bank debt.
Shares in mobile phone manufacturer Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) fell 0.08 per cent to $12.48. According to CNN Money the company plans to expand into other areas technology by launching a new mini-laptop called the Nokia Booklet 3G next month. The mini-laptop will use Microsoft’s Windows software.
And shares in pharmaceutical company Warner Chilcott Plc (NASDAQ:WCRX) soared 27.09 per cent to $20.41. The company has acquired Procter & Gamble’s pharmaceuticals business for $3.1 billion.
Checking the NASDAQ Top 100: Making the most gains overnight was Warner Chilcott price as mentioned before. First Solar and Dell were the next best performers. Looking at the downside, Ryanair Holdings was the worst performer, down 3.47 per cent to $27.27, followed by Flextronics and Sears Holdings.
