Goldman Likes Citigroup and Job Market Grows: Market Recap

The markets closed up on Friday, retaking some of Thursday’s losses.

At the close: DJIA: +0.33%, S&P 500: +0.49%, Nasdaq: +0.04%.

On the commodities front, Oil (NYSE:USO) moved fractionally up to $93.10. Precious metals were down amid Fed speculation, with Gold (NYSE:GLD) dropping 1.08 percent to $1,656.60 per ounce, and Silver (NYSE:SLV) dropping 1.58 percent to $30.24 per ounce, about 10 minutes after the bell.

Here’s your Cheat Sheet to today’s top stories:

As Helix Energy Solutions (NYSE:HLX) slims down its operations to concentrate on its expanding offshore oil-well support business, analysts have started to assess the company’s potential as a takeover target… (Read more.)

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Senior Vice President Mike Daniels, who was once a leading candidate to succeed former chief executive Samuel Palmisano as head of International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM), has announced his retirement after 36 years with the company… (Read more.)

Citigroup (NYSE:C) enjoyed a boost of nearly 1.5 percent following an endorsement from Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS). Goldman, which once again was the top M&A adviser in 2012, placed Citi on its “conviction buy” list with a price target of $49.

The Most Ridiculous Approach to the Debt Ceiling: Did you hear the one about Zimbabwe and the United States? Zimbabwe called, it wants its trillion-dollar currency ideas back. The fiscal cliff soap opera may be on break for a couple months, but there are plenty of other drama shows set to play out in Congress over the coming weeks… (Read more.)