ECONOMY & MARKETS

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Coldwater Creek, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock, Novavax, Vical, Eagle Bulk Shipping, Internap Network Services, Cerus, Nasdaq OMX Group, Sterling Bancshares, and Texas Capital BancShares.

Stocks tumbled in a holiday-shortened session on worries over threats of war by North Korea and pervasive fears that the euro zone sovereign debt crisis may spread to Spain and Portugal. Apparently, traders saw little solace in what appears to be shaping up as a strong Black Friday on the retail front.

Railroad companies are probably not at the top of most investors’ wish list, but these stocks have performed superbly this year and likely represent a solid long-term investment theme.

US stocks declined in early trade on Friday as fresh concerns over European debt crisis weighed on sentiment.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: CPI International, iGo, LJ International, Savient Pharmaceuticals, ASML Holding, A-Power Energy Generation Systems, and Melco Crown Entertainment.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Aixtron AG, CROCS, Randgold Resources, Intel, Baidu, Dell, Joy Global, Microsoft, and Amazon.com.

Precious metals and euro dropped on Friday as European periphery worries intensified, helping safe-haven interest into the US dollar. EUR/USD touched a fresh 2-month low.

The fall in initial jobless claims in the U.S. to the lowest level since July 2008 is not a right pointer to a possible labor market recovery, according to an analyst, who says the true test for the economy is the creation of anything above 200,000 payroll jobs in a month.

Even though Japan's exports expanded for the 11th straight month, the pace of growth continued to slow in October due to stronger yen and weak overseas demand.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Century Aluminum, China Life Retire-Easy Guarantee, Novavax, Globe Specialty Metals, eBay, Global Industries, Limelight Networks, MannKind, Fifth Third Bancorp, and Ebix.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: ArQule, Magic Software Enterprises, Acacia Research, Hauppauge Digital, SodaStream International, Oclaro, Orexigen Therapeutics, Golar LNG, LJ International, and Northern Technologies International.

Stock rallied broadly on some encouraging number from the labor market, shrugging off worrying geopolitical developments in Asia and some dour housing data, ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday and Black Friday, which will kick off the Christmas shopping season.

Solar energy stocks received a load of bad news last week when an analyst at Credit Suisse downgraded the entire sector and lowered price targets, raising concerns about the industry's near-term prospects

US core durable goods demand fell unexpectedly in October, recording the largest decline since March 2009.

Personal spending in the U.S. rose 0.4 percent in October, marking a slight uptick in households' appetite for purchases even as a holiday season is kicking in.

Futures on major U.S. stock indices extended earlier gains on Wednesday after the Department of Labor reported that weekly jobless claims fell sharply last week to the lowest level since July 2008.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Magic Software Enterprises, Tesla Motors, Deckers Outdoor, F5 Networks, DryShips, Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Amazon.com, Baidu, Oracle, and Netflix.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Telestone Technologies, Acergy SA, Vodafone Group, Randgold Resources, and ARM Holdings.

RBC Capital Markets lowered its profit estimates for PotashCorp after the company decided to fund its share buyback from sale of debt securities rather than utilizing its existing credit facilities.

U.S. home loan demand rose sharply in the week ended Nov. 19, reaching a two-year high, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said on Wednesday.

Business confidence in Germany surged to record highs in November, despite sovereign debt woes in Ireland and fears of a contagion to other euro zone members.

Futures on major U.S. stock indices point to a higher opening on Wednesday ahead of a wave of economic data including durable goods orders and new home sales.

Thanksgiving traditionally means a celebration of plentiful harvest, but people this year may end up spending a little more on the thanksgiving dinner than before according to the 25th annual survey done by the American Farm Bureau Federation.

UK economy grew in the third quarter, boosted mainly by a strong increase in exports of goods and services.

Shares of Irish banks nosedived on Wednesday driven by fears of a bank run as speculation intensified over government stake hike in the Bank of Ireland and the Allied Irish Banks, even as Dublin was putting final touches to the austerity plan the country was ordered to follow as part of its 85 billion euro bailout announced early this week.

China and Russia announced on Tuesday to renounce US dollar and use their domestic currencies in bilateral trade.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: MakeMyTrip, Telestone Technologies, Tetra Tech, TiVo, NightHawk Radiology Holdings, Ebix, Globe Specialty Metals, The Hain Celestial Group, A123 Systems, and Ariad Pharmaceuticals.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Dynamex, THQ, O'Charley's, Take-Two Interactive Software, SmartHeat, SMART Modular Technologies WWH, LTX-Credence, MIPS Technologies, ChinaCast Education, and Oracle.

Stocks tumbled on heightened geopolitical tensions in Korea and rising fears about the spread of euro zone debt crisis. Minutes from the last FOMC meeting which revealed disagreements among policymakers over the efficacy of the second round of quantitative easing did not help market sentiment either.