Balasubramanyam Seshan

FBR Capital Markets said that according to its store checks over the Christmas weekend, promotions at the mall continue to be aggressive.

The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market movers are: Parlux Fragrances, Makita, Siliconware Precision Industries, Amazon.com, and Apple. The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Sears Holdings, RAM Energy Resources, ZAGG, QUALCOMM, and Research In Motion.

The much-anticipated Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, is finally available in Verizon Wireless.

Computer maker ASUS' Eee Pad Transformer Prime is expected to hit the U.S. market in 2012 but a rumor suggests the 32GB Amethyst Gray version could be made available to certain pre-ordered customers after Christmas.

The LG Nitro HD, which was made available on AT&T's network from Dec. 4, is expected to face heavy competition from the HTC Rezound, which was made available on Verizon's network from Nov. 14.

Internet and Facebook have seen exponential growth in activities during this year that was considered as sensations, such as planking, owling, plowling, horsemaning, levitating girl, batmanning, leisure diving, teabowing, teapotting, and plumbking.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) announced a planned deposit of about $1.6 billion into its litigation escrow account, which also serves as a share buyback under Visa's retrospective responsibility plan.

Nokia's best high-end smartphone - the Lumia 800 - which is the fruit of its partnership with Microsoft is rumored to hit the U.S. market in January 2012. It will, however, face heavy competition from Samsung's Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, which has more specifications when compared to Lumia 800.

The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers Friday are: Parlux Fragrances, Neurocrine Biosciences, Associated Banc-Corp, Sears Holdings, and James River Coal. The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Diodes, Broadcom, JDS Uniphase, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, and Hudson City Bancorp.

The iPhone is Apple Inc.'s largest and most profitable product line. Analysts are expecting Apple Inc. to unveil the next-generation 4G LTE iPhone 5 in the second half of 2012.

As many Americans put off holiday shopping until the last minute, Republican primary voters continue to browse the various candidates looking for the perfect fit, said FBR Capital Markets.

The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Rambus, Momenta Pharmaceuticals, IPG Photonics, Zix, and Citrix Systems. The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Deer Consumer Products, Exide Technologies, CalAmp, Suffolk Bancorp, and EchoStar.

The LG Nitro HD, which was made available on AT&T's network from Dec. 4, is expected to face immense pressure from Motorola's Droid RAZR, as Verizon is offering an additional $100 off on the Droid XYBOARD Tablet when customers buy the Motorola smartphone.

The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: WCA Waste, Curis, TIBCO Software, Infosys, Clearwire, Yahoo, and Micron Technology. The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Alaska Communications Systems Group, VIVUS, Bed Bath & Beyond, Makita, and Research In Motion.

Jefferies said its several checks suggest that online sales rose a solid 15 percent year-over-year in the Nov. 1 to Dec. 18 holiday season period, an acceleration from the pace of growth in the first nine months of the year.

The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: WCA Waste, Mellanox Technologies, TIBCO Software, Salix Pharmaceuticals, and Ross Stores. The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Alaska Communications Systems Group, VIVUS, SuperMedia, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Sequenom.

Electronic Arts officially launched Star Wars: The Old Republic, the long anticipated online multi-player video game.

The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Research In Motion, Polycom, and Yandex. The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Oracle, Conceptus, ARM Holdings, ASML Holding, Baidu, and Paychex.

An economist at Wells Fargo Securities expects homebuilding to improve modestly in 2012, with most of the gains coming from apartment construction.

Housing starts rose much more than expected during November, as unseasonably warm weather allowed builders to begin work on more projects than they usually do in November.

The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Research In Motion, FSI International, Cintas, Suffolk Bancorp, and Westell Technologies. The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Oracle, L & L Energy, Columbia Laboratories, Epoch Investment Partners, and Autodesk.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Clearwire, Patterson-UTI Energy, MicroStrategy, VIVUS and Zions Bancorp. The top after-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: II-VI, SciClone Pharmaceuticals, Harmonic, Columbia Laboratories and Extreme Networks.

The much-awaited Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, is finally in Verizon Wireless stores and available online for $299.99 with a two-year contract. The smartphone battle can only get more intense, with the LG Nitro HD and the Galaxy Nexus squaring off against each other.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Merge Healthcare, Sequenom, LM Ericsson Telephone, Unilife, and Amarin. The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: ZAGG, Zions Bancorp, Sina, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, and Research In Motion.

Robert W. Baird downgraded its rating on shares of RSC Holdings Inc. (NYSE: RRR) to neutral from outperform following United Rentals Inc.'s (NYSE: URI) intention to buy RSC Holdings for $18 per share.

The Senate-passed bill is a two-month extension of the 2 percent payroll tax holiday, federal support of unemployment benefits and an extension of expiring Medicare provisions.

Recently, non-farm employment in New Jersey has been shaky, with employment falling in two of the last three months. Much of the job loss has been in the leisure and hospitality and information sectors, said an economist at Wells Fargo Securities.

The battle between smartphones with near identical specifications is getting more intense day-by-day. Among those phones with similar features are the HTC Vivid and the LG Nitro HD. However, the Nitro HD outshines the Vivid, with a dual-core 1.5 GHz processor and its True HD AH-IPS display.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Affymax, G-III Apparel Group, Central European Distribution, BioSante Pharmaceuticals, and Amgen. The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Tesla Motors, Clearwire, Aixtron, ASM International, and Crosstex Energy.