The biggest stock news of Thursday’s trading wasn’t relegated to just one or two companies, but a whole big bundle of ‘em.
Bill Gross joined the rapidly expanding world of exchange-traded funds, launching his PIMCO Total Return Fund (MUTF:) clone, the PIMCO Total Return ETF (NYSE:). TRXT hopes to draw on the popularity and active management of the $245 billion-holding PTTRX while folding in the accessibility of ETFs.
The Total Return ETF’s first-day volume of more than half a million shares was a pretty good sign. Price movement was minimal, with an open at $100.10 and a close of $99.96.
Retailers also were a hot topic Thursday, with a few stocks jumping on strong same-store sales. Gap (NYSE:) was one of the biggest winners, climbing more than 7% on a better-than-expected 4% increase in the metric. The Buckle (NYSE:, +6.9%) also recorded strong gains. The Limited (NYSE:) and Target (NYSE:) were mostly flat despite positive same-store sales surprises.
Wal-Mart (NYSE:) also made headlines despite its absence from monthly sales reports — it increased its dividend 9% to $1.59 per share, though investors shrugged as WMT stock lost less than a percent.
Automakers as a whole enjoyed modest gains as the sector also reported strong February sales. Ford
(NYSE:) was up 2.3%, Volkswagen (PINK:) climbed 2%, General Motors (NYSE:) bumped up 1.5% and Honda (NYSE:) and Toyota (NYSE:) each registered fractional gains.
Three Up
- Monster Worldwide (NYSE:): Up 15.1% ($1.05) to $7.99.
- McDermott International (NYSE:): Up 13.9% ($1.81) to $14.87.
- Fusion-io (NYSE:): Up 8.8% ($2.40) to $29.70.
Three Down
- Sotheby’s Holdings (NYSE:): Down 9.2% ($3.60) to $35.74.
- First Solar (NASDAQ:): Down 5.9% ($1.89) to $30.41.
- AdTran (NASDAQ:): Down 5.5% ($1.93) to $33.32.
Kyle Woodley is the assistant editor of InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Check out recaps from previous trading days here.
