Hewitt, BP Gain; Aon, Suntech Drop

Mayank Mehta
12 Jul, 2010
New York City

Hewitt Associates, Inc. led gainers in the S&P 500 index with a rise of 32.9%. Alliance Data stock worth less than $30. Paychex CEO resigns to pursue other interests. The Shaw Group net income rises sharply.

[R]11:00 AM New York - Hewitt Associates, Inc. led gainers in the S&P 500 index with a rise of 32.9%. Alliance Data stock worth less than $30. Paychex CEO resigns to pursue other interests. The Shaw Group net income rises sharply.[/R]

Aon Corporation led the decliners in the S&P 500 index with a loss of 6.7% followed by losses in Pengrowth Energy Trust of 6.0% and in Acxiom Corporation of 5.4%, and in Valassis Communications, Inc. of 4.9% and in Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. of 4.8%.

Hewitt Associates, Inc. led gainers in the S&P 500 index with a rise of 32.9% followed by gains in Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. of 6.2%, in SanDisk Corporation of 5.8% and in BP Plc of 5.0% and in Dendreon Corporation of 4.7%.

Other Movers

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. ((APD)) rose 1.4% or $1.40 to $69.74 after the industrial-gases producer is attempting a takeover of Airgas Inc.

Alliance Data Systems Corporation ((ADS)) fell 2.8% after the card processor said shares, which closed at $58.20 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday; appear to be worth less than $30 per share, financial newspaper Barron''s reported in its July 12th edition.

Arch Coal, Inc. ((ACI)) rose 2.8% or 61 cents to $22.06 after the coal producer said it will suspend work at its Dugout Canyon mine in Carbon County, Utah.

Bank of America Corporation ((BAC)) fell 0.6% or 10 cents to $15.01 after the bank admitted to hiding billions of dollars in debt from its balance sheet. The company did this by making six transactions known as “repos” in efforts to meet financial targets.

The Boeing Company ((BA)) declined 0.4% or 26 cents to $64.40 after the company today announced an agreement to acquire Narus.

Hewitt Associates, Inc. ((HEW)) surged 33.2% or $11.78 to $47.18 after the insurance broker and Aon Corporation announced today that the boards of directors of both companies have approved an agreement under which Hewitt will merge with a subsidiary of Aon. The aggregate fully diluted equity value of the transaction is approximately $4.9 billion, consisting of 50% cash and 50% Aon stock

Jefferies Group, Inc. ((JEF)) rose 3.1% or 71 cents to $23.13 after the investment bank made more than $10 million in trading revenue on five days in its fiscal second quarter, up from one day in the first quarter, according to a regulatory filing.

Marriott International, Inc. ((MAR)) increased 0.1% or 6 cents to $31.18 after the hotel chain was downgraded to “market perform” from “outperform” at Wells Fargo Securities.

Nidec Corporation ((NJ)) rose 1.0% or 24 cents to $22.67 after the maker of motors for disk drives may gain should demand for personal computers in Europe and Asia stay steady or rise, Barron’s reported.

SanDisk Corporation ((SNDK)) gained 2.0% or 89 cents to $43.79 after the flash-data storage company was upgraded to “buy” from “neutral” at UBS.

The Shaw Group Inc. ((SHAW)) added 2.1% or 76 cents to $35.75 after the provider of engineering, construction services for energy and emergency companies reported third quarter revenues fell 3% to $1.79 billion from $1.85 billion a year ago. Net income in the quarter rose 766% to $68.4 million or 79 cents per diluted share compared to net income of $7.9 million or 9 cents per share a year ago.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ((WMT)) rose 0.5% or 28 cents to $49.71 after the retailer may rise as much as 33% as it boosts sales by expanding its online business and opens stores in urban centers, Barron’s reported, citing analysts.

Weyerhaeuser Timber Company ((WY)) edged higher 5.3% or $1.91 to $37.75 after the owner of U.S. timberland today announced the board of directors has declared a special dividend of $5.6 billion.

Yahoo! Inc. ((YHOO)) climbed 1.4% or 22 cents to $15.11 after the owner of the second most-used U.S. search engine was upgraded to “buy” from “hold” at Needham & Co.