LargeCap Stocks to Watch Today

Oxford, MS 4/7/2011 (Penny PayDay) -- Union, N.J.-based specialty retailer Bed Bath & Beyond was surging 10.8% to $54.70 in premarket trading Thursday after posting earnings that came in much better than anticipated.

Drugstore chain Rite Aid was rising 2.8% to $1.09 after reporting a fourth-quarter loss of 24 cents a share, in line with expectations.

Specialty retailer Pier 1 Imports was rising 2.5% to $10.80 after reporting fourth-quarter earnings of 48 cents a share, beating the Wall Street consensus estimate of 47 cents a share.

Costco, the warehouse retailer, was up 1.4% to $76 after reporting that comparable-store sales rose 13% in March, beating analysts' forecasts.

Internet search giant Google was rising 0.5% to $576.88 after its new cloud music application was leaked. The application seems to indicate that Google will be providing an online music storage service that will compete against Amazon's Cloud Drive. Reports also say that Google will invest $100 million into improving its YouTube service.

Global diversified firm Ingersoll-Rand was rising 0.4% to $48.01 after increasing its quarterly dividend by 71% to 12 cents a share and announcing a $2 billion share repurchase program.

General Electric was unchanged at $20.55 ahead of an expected announcement Thursday that it will build the biggest solar panel plant in the U.S.

PC maker Dell was unchanged at $14.77 after saying it will invest $1 billion this year to build new data centers and products around the world, according to a Dow Jones report.

Maryville, Tenn.-based casual restaurant operator Ruby Tuesday missed Wall Street's profit expectations for its fiscal third quarter.

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LargeCap Stocks to Watch Today

Oxford, MS 4/5/2011 (Penny PayDay) -- National Semiconductor was surging 72.8% to $24.17 in premarket trading Tuesday after it agreed to be acquired by Texas Instruments in an all-cash deal worth $6.5 billion, or $25 a share. Texas Instruments was falling 2.9% to $33.11.

Following the announcement of the Texas Instruments and National Semiconductor deal, chipmaker Linear Technology was rising 1.3% to $33.52 in premarket trading, while peer Maxim Integrated Products was up 2.5% to $25.98.

Questcor Pharmaceuticals was popping 18% to $17.60 after it forecasted strong first-quarter results with sales projected at $48.6 million.

Cubist Pharmaceuticals was surging 15.4% to $29.13 in premarket trading after the company settled a patent lawsuit related to its Cubicin drug for blood infections with Teva Pharmaceuticals and hammered out a licensing agreement.

The Nasdaq-100 Index plans to undergo a rebalancing prior to the market open on May 2, which includes reducing the weighting of Apple. Shares of Apple were falling 1.5% to $336.08.

Carrier Southwest Airlines was falling 0.5% to $12.40 as experts say they suspect that short-haul flights led to the damage of its Boeing 737-300 aircraft.

Google was flat at $587.24 as the Internet search giant faces a possible antitrust investigation by the Federal Trade Commission on top of the ones it already faces in Texas and the European Union. The company may also be investigated in Ohio.

Specialty apparel maker Express said some of its shareholders plan to sell 16.5 million shares of its common stock. Express won't receive any proceeds from the offering.

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LargeCap Stocks to Watch Today

Oxford, MS 4/4/2011 (Penny PayDay) -- Drug company Pfizer was rising 0.6% to $20.50 in premarket trading Monday after agreeing to sell its Capsugel business for $2.375 billion in cash to an affiliate of investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

Windstar Cruises parent Ambassadors International was falling 78.6% to 60 cents after filing for bankruptcy protection and announcing plans to sell all its assets to stakeholder Whippoorwill Associates.

Electronics manufacturing services supplier LaBarge was surging 9.5% to $19.09 in premarket trading after aerospace and defense services company Ducommun said Monday it would acquire LaBarge for about $340 million.

Airline carrier Southwest was tumbling 4.7% to $12.08 after grounding about 80 planes for inspection and cancelling about 300 flights Saturday when a 15-year-old Boeing 737-300 was forced into an emergency landing at a military base in Yuma, Ariz., with a hole a few feet long in the roof of the passenger cabin, The Associated Press reported.

BP, the British oil company, was rising 0.9% to $46.09 in premarket trading, after saying Monday it agreed to sell its Arco Aluminum subsidiary to a consortium of Japanese companies for $680 million.

Communications and Entertainment company Vivendi agreed to buy mobile company Vodafone's 44% stake in French mobile operator SFR for €7.95 billion ($11.3 billion). Vodafone was rising 1.1% to $29.39 in premarket trading.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing to bring civil charges against Wachovia, a unit of financial services company Wells Fargo, for allegedly overpricing mortgage-bond deals, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Wells Fargo was up 0.2% to $32.12 in premarket trading.

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LargeCap Stocks to Watch Today

Oxford, MS 4/1/2011 (Penny PayDay) -- Nasdaq OMX was falling 4% to $24.80 and IntercontinentalExchange was down 1.7% to $121.45 in premarket trading Friday after the exchange companies jointly proposed to buy NYSE Euronext for $42.50 in cash and stock, or about $11.3 billion.