BARCLAYS

U.S. blue-chip stocks eked out a slim gain Monday but other market measures fell slightly as investors traded cautiously ahead of the first quarter corporate earnings season.

US stocks are mixed on global worries ahead of the unofficial start of first quarter earnings season.

U.S. blue-chip stocks eked out a slim gain Monday but other market measures fell slightly as investors traded cautiously ahead of the first quarter corporate earnings season.The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 1.06 points, or 0.01%, at 12381.11. The Nasdaq Composite shed 8.91, or 0.32%, to 2771.51. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index slipped 3.71, or 0.28%, to 1324.46. The mixed activity came as investors looked ahead to the first-quarter earnings season, which kicked off unoffic...

The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Conns, Expedia, Curis, Seagate Technology, and NXP Semiconductors. The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Hercules Offshore, Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Sangamo Biosciences, Qiao Xing Universal Resources, and Costco Wholesale.

The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Expedia, Seagate Technology, Cutera, ShoreTel, and Select Comfort. The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Hercules Offshore, Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Sangamo Biosciences, PostRock Energy, and China-Biotics.

U.S. stock markets ended higher on Wednesday, led by gains from technology and banking sector stocks.

U.S. stocks pared earlier gains as energy companies’ shares declined after a higher-than-expected increase in petroleum inventories and Monsanto Co. shares declined as its revenue fell short of expectations.

Barclays Capital said it has received many questions over the past week around thoughts on the potential timing of Apple Inc.'s iPhone 5. In summary, Reitzes believes it may make sense for Apple to launch this version of the iPhone a little later than usual for five reasons.

Apple Inc. is widely expected to release its own iTunes-related cloud strategy soon likely integrating its MobileMe services and taking advantage of its investments in its North Carolina data center, Barcalys Capital said.

Epsilon, the world's largest permission-based email marketing Services Company that serves TiVo users and many more, reported a breach in its security Friday and the list of companies affected keeps on growing, Mashable reported today.

Potentially millions of customer names an email addresses of retailers and financial institutions have been compromised as attackers breached a high-profile online marketer.

A breach of Epsilon's database affects countless customers of big-name banks and online retailers.

U.S. stocks ended mixed on Thursday as investors awaited Friday’s Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report, while slightly weaker-than-expected economic reports on jobless claims and Chicago Purchasing Managers index weighed on the sentiment.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Wednesday are: Gilead Sciences, Philip Morris International, Range Resources, NYSE Euronext, eBay, Chesapeake Energy, Kohl's Corp and Dell.

[Investors] don't believe in the gold story anymore, declared Kevin Norrish of Barclays Capital on Wednesday, announcing the bank's latest commodity investment survey of institutional players. Not one single respondent chose Gold Bullion as the likely best performer in 2011, Norrish said.

The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Biostar Pharmaceuticals, Wet Seal, Zalicus, Oracle, and JetBlue Airways. The top pre-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: China Finance Online, Research In Motion, Acacia Research, Universal Display, XOMA, and Netflix.

The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: Body Central, THQ, Wet Seal, Alkermes, and Oracle. The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: Gen-Probe, Research In Motion, Move, Acacia Research, and China Finance Online.

Barclays Capital said Apple Inc.'s iPad 2, which began shipping in the U.S. on March 11, remains sold out across retailers with limited sporadic availability at Apple stores themselves and 4-5 week wait times via Apple.com.

Apple may face supply chain disruptions for its newly launched iPad 2 as a 9 magnitude earthquake in Japan impacted several component makers for the tablet.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Wednesday are: Universal Display, Ascent Solar Technologies, Micron Technology, Deere & Co, Canadian Solar, Online Resources, Applied Materials, Carnival, Starbucks and Apple.

U.S. stocks ended lower on Tuesday as mounting fears about Japan's escalating nuclear crisis sparked sell-offs in financial markets around the world, but positive remarks from the Federal Reserve helped the indexes rebound from the day’s lows.