Facebook Lock-In EXPIRES and 2 Morning Hot Stocks Attracting Attention

About 200 million shares of Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) will be free to hit the market on Thursday as the lock-in period expires, and investors such as Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and Accel could unload their shares. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is also eligible but has no plans to divest its stake. The already battered shares of Facebook could face more selling pressure as almost 1.9 billion shares could release from lock up over the next nine months, which is almost four times the current float of 500 million shares.

Don’t Miss: ALL Facebook Apps Now Have This NEW Option.

In a further move to raise cash to meet Basel III capital requirements and pay off its legal liabilities, Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) has sold its Merrill Lynch’s private banking operations outside the U.S. to leading Swiss private banking group Julius Baer for $1.5 billion.

The recent $4.9 billion acquisition of Amerigroup by WellPoint (NYSE:WLP), due to close in 2013, may prove to be a shot in the arm for the poorly performing health insurer, giving its CEO Angela Braly much-needed time to reverse the situation.

Don’t Miss: Here’s Why Wall Street Is Not in the Social Media Stocks Cult.