Stocks End Mixed on Record Oil

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Stocks ended the session mixed on Monday as investors weighed a fresh record high in oil prices against positive manufacturing data.


The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 17.76, or 0.2 percent, to 10,623.15. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 1.17, or 0.1 percent, at 1,235.35. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 10.55, or 0.5 percent, to 2,195.38.


Crude prices jumped $1 a barrel Monday after the death of Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd raised concerns about the kingdom’s long-term political stability and whether its oil policy would change. Light sweet crude for September delivery rose as high as $62.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, then retreated to settle at $61.57.


And Wall Street was pleasantly surprised by a better-than-expected reading of the nation’s manufacturing index. The Institute for Supply Management said its index of national factory activity rose to 56.6 in July from 53.8 in June, above economists’ forecasts for a slight increase to 54.5.


Among local companies, shares of California Pizza Kitchen Inc. rose 6.9 percent to $32.70 after the L.A.-based casual dining restaurant chain’s stock rating was raised to “strong buy” from “outperform” by analyst Bryan Elliott at Raymond James. The 12-month price target was set at $36 per share.


United Online Inc. gained 2.3 percent to $11.77 after the Woodland Hills-based provider of consumer Internet subscription services named Ted Cahall as its executive vice president and chief operating officer of Classmates.com and executive vice president, United Online Web Services. Cahall comes to United Online from CNET Networks where he was the chief information officer and senior vice president of engineering, managing the company’s technology infrastructure.


On the down side, shares of ARTISTdirect Inc. sank 15.1 percent to $2.97 after the L.A.-based online music and media platform acquired MediaDefender, Inc. for $42.5 million. Under the terms of the acquisition, ARTISTdirect acquired all of the outstanding shares of MediaDefender. Marina del Rey-based MediaDefender is a provider of anti-piracy solutions in the Internet-piracy-protection industry.


And Public Storage Inc. slipped 1.7 percent to $65.60 after the Glendale-based company made an unsolicited $2.5 billion public offer for rival Shurgard Storage Centers Inc. despite the Seattle-based real estate investment trust’s position that it is not for sale. The Glendale-based company went public with its offer Monday to make an appeal to shareholders after Shurgard’s board of directors rejected Public Storage’s July 8 merger offer via a July 26 letter.

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