Amazon.com’s
surge in online shoppers this season
helped push it into the top performer category during Monday’s
post-Christmas holiday trading session. The e-tailer jumped by over 8.5
percent on the day to close at $42.25 on a fairly thin trading day after it
announced another record-breaking
day of sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
But after surging early on news that gadgets, satellite radio and tech
play things were the big sellers for Amazon.com during the holiday shopping
season, stocks slowed down as news of the catastrophic destruction in Sri
Lanka, India, Indonesia and other Southeast Asian nations from a tsunami
dampened the mood in many markets.
Plus, with plenty of traders still out for the week ahead of the New
Year’s holiday, liquidity and volume were thin enough to trip some big
swings on some stocks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down close 51 at 10776.13. The
Nasdaq exchange slipped 6.40 to close at 2154.22. The S&P closed down 5.21
at 1204.92.
Apple’s iPod may be the technology gift of the
season, but its stellar sales did little for its stock price Monday. Shares
closed down 85 cents at $63.16.
Not so for The Sharper Image , whose holiday sales
fell short of expectations. The company’s price fell by 18 percent on the
day to close at $18.96, down $4.18 (another reminder of how less liquidity
in markets during a slow holiday week can contribute to big swings on prices).
Satellite radio players Sirius and XM Radio
said sales of systems and services surpassed expectations.
Sirius passed the 1 million mark on subscribers and XM Radio cleared 3
million — plenty of growth to give traditional radio some fits and starts.
But XM shares slipped by 19 cents to close at $39.73. Sirius got a bounce,
however, closing up by 15 cents to $8.10.
Shares of Delta slipped by 13 cents, just over 1 percent to $7.43 following a computer glitch in its carrier subsidiary Comair that stranded thousands of Christmas Holiday travelers.
US Airways, which is in bankruptcy reorganization and trades on over-the-counter markets, closed unchanged at $1.26 in midday trading after a massive sick-out by baggage handlers stranded thousands more holiday passengers around the nation, as well as their baggage.
