Afternoon Market Update (CAT, BUCY, MS, WFC, KBE, AKAM, LLNW)
Moody's Investors Service has affirmed its long-term rating of “A2” on Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) after the company announced its plans to buy Bucyrus International Inc (NASDAQ: BUCY) for $8.6 billion. Moody's said, "The affirmation of CAT's ratings reflects Moody's anticipation that the Bucyrus acquisition will materially strengthen the company's long-term position in the global mining equipment markets. In addition, the continuing recovery in Caterpillar's end markets and the success of its operating efficiency initiatives should enable it to remain well on track for generating credit metrics that are solidly supportive of the A2 rating during 2011." The outlook on the rating is stable. CAT shares are up about 3%.
Financial stocks moved higher, with Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) as the top performer in the list. The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) gained about 1.6%. Shares of MS gained more than 3%. Shares of Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE: WFC) also rose about 2.1%. The SPDR KBW Bank ETF (NYSE: KBE) moved up about 1.9%.
Shares of Akamai Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: AKAM) and Limelight Networks Inc (NASDAQ: LLNW) tumbled after Oppenheimer analyst Srinivas Anantha downgraded both the stocks. Srinivas Anantha downgraded AKAM from “outperform” to “perform” and downgraded LLNW from “perform” to “underperform.” Shares of AKAM lost about 6.4%, while LLNW shares dipped about 10.7%.
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