Shares of Adobe jumped 11% to a new 52-week high Friday after the company posted solid results.
Adobe’s fourth-quarter sales and earnings beat expectations, and the company’s first-quarter sales guidance was also ahead of analysts’ estimates, driven by strong document and design software sales.
Oracle , meanwhile, lost 1% on its results — but that was 5% above its low for the day.
Oracle’s results were in line with estimates, although software license revenues and database sales came in shy of estimates. Investors also fretted about the cost of acquisitions such as PeopleSoft and Siebel, but Merrill Lynch upgraded the stock to “buy,” citing an attractive valuation.
Stocks closed lower Friday on a volatile options and futures expiration day, as an early rally on sharply lower oil process gave way to profit-taking. An S&P rebalancing also contributed to the volatility.
The Nasdaq lost 8 to 2252, the S&P 500 slipped 3 to 1267, and the Dow lost 6 to 10,875. Volume surged to 2.58 billion shares on the NYSE, and 2.38 billion on the Nasdaq. Decliners led 16-15 on the NYSE, and 16-13 on the Nasdaq. Downside volume was 51% on the NYSE, and 71% on the Nasdaq. New highs-new lows were 135-95 on the NYSE, and 101-56 on the Nasdaq.
Google rose 1.8% on reports that it will take a $1 billion stake in AOL
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Standard Microsystems soared 15% on its results.
California Micro fell 21% after lowering sales guidance.
Spansion jumped 13% on its first day of trading.
