GLOBAL MARKETS

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the departure of Mark Hurd as the chief Executive officer from Hewlett-Packard Co. (NASDAQ:HPQ) as part of its broad inquiry in to various claims, including insider trading by the former executive.

The companies which are expected to see active trade on Tuesday are Nike, Jabil Circuit, Adobe Systems, Red Hat, CarMax, Carnival Corp and Paychex.

Barclays Capital raised profit estimate of online retailer Amazon.com, Inc., citing strong online holiday season.

Scientists in the UK are developing technology using nanopores that could ultimately sequence a person’s genome in mere minutes, unlike available commercial methods, which require complex process.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Dish Network, Columbia Laboratories, Finisar, VeriSign, ICAgen, Sourcefire, China Shengda Packaging Group, Interactive Brokers Group, Penn National Gaming, and Zions Bancorp.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: LaserCard, Incyte, Adobe Systems, Sonus Networks, Myriad Genetics, YRC Worldwide, SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Perficient, MannKind, and Web.com Group.

Stocks finished essentially flat in listless pre-holiday trading amidst low volume and a dearth of economic data.

The stock market is up slightly as Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) jumped 8.41 percent and financial stocks rose broadly. However enthusiasm was tempered by the downgrade of American Express (NYSE:AXP).

Shares of SLM Corp. (NYSE: SLM) are soaring this morning, reaping the benefits of a favorable report in Barron’s over the weekend, citing that the stock looks expensive, given future earnings prospects.

Shares of American Eagle Outfitters Inc (NYSE: AEO) are sinking this morning after Susquehanna Financial Group downgraded the stock’s rating to neutral, citing a sluggish December sales picture.

S&P 500 Index gained 3.00 points, or 0.24 percent, to trade at 1,246.91 at 09:50 a.m. EST. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 7.11 points, or 0.06 percent, to trade at 11,499.02. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.20 percent to trade at 2,648.31.

With dwindling market share for Symbian and growing smartphone competition may force Nokia to adopt either Google's Android Operating System or Windows Phone 7 in a bid to regain its lost marketshare in the smartphone space.

Telecom bellwether AT&T announced its acquisition of wireless spectrum from chipmaker Qualcomm for $1.925 billion to strengthen its advanced 4G mobile broadband offering.

Barclays Capital raised profit estimates of Research In Motion Ltd., saying Playbook tablet and QNX phone visibility is improving, and continued international strength appeared sustainable

Foodborne disease, commonly called food poisoning, is any illness resulting from the consumption of contaminated food. Salmonella was the leading cause of foodborne disease in the U.S., according to a study.

The World Economic Forum's annual meeting at Davos is a waste of time, said Nassim Taleb, author of The Black Swan and a trader who was a speaker at the event in 2009.

Stocks finished narrowly mixed in a quiet session as traders await President Barack Obama signing the tax-cut extension bill into law.

Dell Inc. (NYSE: DELL) pursuit of storage equipment maker Compellent Technologies (NYSE: CML) has featured some unusual characteristics and twists.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: TriQuint Semiconductor, Randgold Resources, Vodafone Group, Aixtron, Acergy, Shire, Microsoft, and Siliconware Precision Industries.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: InterMune, YRC Worldwide, Take-Two Interactive Software, Oracle, China Sunergy, Veeco Instruments, Research In Motion, China MediaExpress Holdings, Powerwave Technologies, and MIPS Technologies.

Given the long-term importance of 1.53 area, chances of GBP/USD consolidating there until getting an opportunity to bounce back to 1.63 zone are high.

The Euro rose across the board on Friday helped by its leaders' positive response to creating a facility to safeguard its nations from debt issues like Ireland's, but a rating downgrade by Moody's on the troubled country dampened the sentiment, limiting gains by the single currency.

The companies which are expected to see active trade in Friday are Oracle, Accenture, Research In Motion, MasterCard and Lincoln National.

Yahoo is planning to shut several of its web properties, including Delicious, Yahoo Buzz, MyBlogLog, AltaVista, AllTheWeb.com and Yahoo Picks, as part of its restructuring efforts to save costs and exit unprofitable ventures.

The top after-market NYSE gainers on Thursday are Office Depot, Accenture, Salesforce.com and American Express. The top after market NYSE most active stocks are Citigroup, Boston Scientific, Sprint Nextel Corporation and Bank of America.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: SMART Modular Technologies, ValueVision Media, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, TriQuint Semiconductor, Affymetrix, Avago Technologies, Comcast, Infinera, Arch Capital Group, and VeriSign.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: YRC Worldwide, Take-Two Interactive Software, Oracle, Iconix Brand Group, Rightnow Technologies, Dress Barn, Activision Blizzard, Research In Motion, China MediaExpress Holdings, and OmniVision Technologies.

NZD/USD broke below the 100-day SMA and plunged to a 11-week low late Thursday in New York on concerns about the kiwi currency's weakening fundamentals while a lack of confidence in euro added to the relative strength of the greenback.

Dan Mudd, CEO of Fortress Investment Group (NYSE:FIG), said the year 2011 can see record asset sales.