Dow Jones Today Gains 43 Points but Nasdaq Plunges as FB, NFLX, TSLA Slip

Dow Jones Today, Sept. 15, 2014: The Dow Jones Industrial Average was on the rise Monday as markets remain highly anticipative of Chinese e-comm giant Alibaba Holding Group's initial public offering, slated for Friday. Over the weekend, Alibaba executives admitted that the firm chose the New York Stock Exchange as the destination for its U.S.-based listing over the Nasdaq due to concerns about the latter's problems during the IPO of Facebook Inc. (Nasdaq: FB).

With interest in the company's IPO building, it's becoming more likely that this debut could be the largest in market history. Despite the enthusiasm, the tech sector took a hard punch this afternoon. The Nasdaq slipped roughly 1% today, with Tesla Motors Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) falling 9% and two iconic digital firms, Facebook and Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX), both off nearly 4%.

Here's the scorecard from today's trading session:

Dow: 17,031.14, +43.63 (+0.26%)
Nasdaq: 4,518.90, -48.70 (-1.07%)
S&P 500: 1,984.13, -1.41 (-0.07%)

Here's a breakdown of the other top stories from the stock market today:

    dow jones today

  • Merger Mania: Tech giant Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) has announced plans to purchase the video game developer Mojang, the maker of the popular game Minecraft, for roughly $2.5 billion. Mojang has just 40 employees and earned $287 million in revenue in 2013. The Minecraft construction game, which allows users to build anything they desire block by block, is very popular and sets up Microsoft for an interesting battle between itself and its rivals Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG, GOOGL) and Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL). The game is currently the top-selling app on both Apple's iOS and Google's Android systems.
  • Biotech Boom: Shares of Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: AVNR) were up more than 85% this afternoon on news the company reported positive results for its mid-stage trials for AVP-923, a treatment for agitation related to Alzheimer's disease. The drug still requires approval from the Food and Drug Administration; however, there are no drugs currently approved that specifically deal with Alzheimer's related agitation, a notorious and unpleasant side effect of the disorder.

  • Trouble on the Farm: Online gaming giant Zynga Inc. (Nasdaq: ZNGA) slashed its 2014 profit outlook as the company continues to miss new game releases and its losses continue to expand. The firm, best known for the popular game Farmville, saw its second-quarter revenue fall by 34%. The stock looks to bounce back in the coming year with pending releases of several sports games, and the firm announced a multi-licensing agreement with the National Football League. Shares of Zynga were down more than 2% in intraday trading. Here's why Zynga will never see its $10 IPO price ever again...
  • Auto Problems Mount: U.S. automaker General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) announced plans to pay financial compensation to the families of 19 victims who died in auto accidents linked to vehicles' faulty ignition switches. The death toll is an increase from the original estimate of 13 deaths that were eligible for compensation. According to reports, a review is still ongoing to determine whether additional victims' families are eligible for compensation from the company. Our Defense & Tech Specialist reveals what the recalls ultimately mean for GM stock...
  • Campaign Mode: On the domestic front, the Obama Administration used the sixth anniversary of the Lehman Brothers collapse to push for a hike in the federal minimum wage. With the midterm elections approaching, the president and democrats are pushing the wage hike as a key message to boost voter turnout. A proposal to increase the federal minimum wage was blocked in the Senate earlier this year, while it has virtually no chance of passing in the House, where the Republican party maintains control. Lehman Brothers collapsed on Sept. 15, 2008, setting the stage for a global economic pandemic that froze global credit markets and fueled a massive government bailout package designed to save the global financial system.

Now our experts share some of the most important investment moves to make based on today's market trading - for Money Morning Members only:

  • 252 Million Years Ago, This Nearly Wiped Out All Life... Tomorrow, It Could Solve Our Energy Problems: According to an April study issued in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, permafrost soil, which typically remains frozen all year, is thawing and decomposing at an accelerating rate. But after a shocking discovery, it seems something locked in the soil could become the fuel of the future... and you could profit big off the new revolution.

About the Author

Garrett Baldwin is a globally recognized research economist, financial writer, consultant, and political risk analyst with decades of trading experience and degrees in economics, cybersecurity, and business from Johns Hopkins, Purdue, Indiana University, and Northwestern.

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