Weekly Market Recap: A Look at the New iPhone, Groupon in the Gutter

Your Cheat Sheet to the last week in top business news:

Monday

Markets closed mixed on Wall Street today: Dow -0.29%, S&P -0.13%, Nasdaq +0.06%, Oil -0.08%, Gold -0.71%.

On the commodities front, Oil (NYSE:USO) declined to $92.81 a barrel. Precious metals also declined, with Gold (NYSE:GLD) falling to $1,611.00 an ounce while Silver (NYSE:SLV) fell 0.30% to settle at $27.77.

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

New images of what is purportedly the logic board of Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) next generation iPhone hit the web on Sunday. If legitimate, they are some of the first images of functional circuity for the much-rumored handset. Posted on the Chinese language forum WeiPhone.com, the images appear to show a never-before-seen iPhone logic board with EMI shielding covering most of the internal components.

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Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Motorola Mobility will cut 20 percent of its workforce and close nearly a third of its offices worldwide, a spokesman said on Monday. “Motorola is committed to helping them (the employees) through this difficult transition and will be providing generous severance packages, as well as outplacement services to help people find new jobs,” the Google spokeswoman said.

Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:SHLD) shares jumped 5.7 percent. Over the weekend, Barron’s gave a positive shout out to the company. With its 59 percent stock rise through Aug. 9, it now sits as the eighth-top S&P 500 performer and year-to-date, the No. 2 performer in retail stocks.

Pervasive Software Inc. (NASDAQ:PVSW) shares increased 23 percent after Actian Corp. presented an offer to purchase the company for $154 million cash or for $8.50 a share. The deal comes in 30 percent higher than the company’s closing price on Friday.

On the down side, Arrowhead Research Corp. (NASDAQ:ARWR) shares dropped 14 percent after the company announced it raised $6.2 million from 2.3 million shares of common stock from a public offering and warrants to buy 1.7 million shares.

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Tuesday

Markets closed mixed on Wall Street today: Dow +0.02%, S&P -0.01%, Nasdaq -0.18%, Oil +0.73%, Gold -0.66%.

On the commodities front, Oil (NYSE:USO) declined to $93.45 a barrel. Precious metals were mixed, with Gold (NYSE:GLD) falling to $1,602.00 an ounce while Silver (NYSE:SLV) rose 0.03% to settle at $27.79.

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

Facebook’s (NASDAQ:FB) $1 billion acquisition of mobile photo-sharing app maker Instagram has been cleared by Britain’s Office of Fair Trading, even as the social network must wait on a decision from U.S. regulators. The British watchdog decided not to refer the deal to the U.K. Competition Commission, where it would have been subjected to a full investigation, according to the OFT.

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Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) will soon be licensing its new BlackBerry 10 operating system to other manufacturers, according to a report on Monday. The new platform is now in the final stages of testing, CEO Thorsten Heins told Bloomberg News, and RIM is considering how other companies may be able to use it in a range of products, as companies including Samsung, Nokia (NYSE:NOK), and LG have done with Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android platform.

Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN) hit a record low on Tuesday and was the tech sector’s leader for declines. The company reported disappointing earnings results. Two brokerage firms downgraded Groupon to a “Hold,” including Citigroup’s Mark Mahaney, who wrote that “the core daily-deal business is sharply slowing.”

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Estee Lauder Cos.’ (NYSE:EL) shares rose 10 percent in afternoon trading after it saw its fiscal fourth-quarter profits increase 25 percent. For the day, the stock was tops for increases on the S&P 500 Index.

Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:KORS) reported total revenue jumped 71 percent in its fiscal first-quarter report as compared to the previous year.  The company saw growth in comparable store sales jump 38 percent in North America and 24 percent in Europe amid the euro zone’s debt crisis. The stock closed up 16.48 percent on Tuesday and year-to-date, it’s up 81 percent.

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Wednesday

Markets closed mixed on Wall Street today: Dow -0.06%, S&P +0.11%, Nasdaq +0.46%, Oil +0.84%, Gold +0.26%.

On the commodities front, Oil (NYSE:USO) rose to $94.21 a barrel. Precious metals also increased, with Gold (NYSE:GLD) rising to $1,606 an ounce while Silver (NYSE:SLV) rose 0.04% to settle at $27.81.

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

JDS Uniphase Corporation’s (NASDAQ:JDSU) shares jumped 10 percent after reporting its quarterly results on Tuesday. Even with the company’s loss, numbers were better than expected. JDS spurred some optimism for improved network demand.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co.’s (NYSE:ANF) shares increased 9 percent after the company announced an increase in its existing share buyback plan by 10 million shares. It also said to investors that its inventory position improved a lot by the second quarter’s end.

On the down side, Deere & Co. (NYSE:DE) shares dropped 6.3 percent after the company reported an 11 percent rise in third-quarter earnings to a record high $788 million ($1.98 a share) up from the previous year’s $712.3 million ($1.69 a share). Quarterly revenue rose 15 percent to $9.59 billion. But this came in below analysts estimates of $2.31 earnings per share on $9.614 billion in revenues.

Staples Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLS) shares tanked 15 percent after the company reported its second quarter results. Earnings dropped 32 percent from the previous year thanks to a tax refund as an international sales decline contributed to a bigger-than-expected sales drop off. The company cut its full-year forecast and now sees flat sales with the previous year and per-share earnings to rise in the low single-digits percentage.

Canadian Solar Inc.’s (NASDAQ:CSIQ) shares dropped 11 percent after the company announced a second-quarter loss on Wednesday. It also said that discounted selling prices affected the company even with higher sales volumes in its solar equipment and panels.

Thursday

Markets closed up  on Wall Street today: Dow +0.65%, S&P +0.71%, Nasdaq +1.04%, Oil +0.93%, Gold +0.63%.

On the commodities front, Oil (NYSE:USO) rose to $95.21 a barrel. Precious metals also increased, with Gold (NYSE:GLD) rising to $1,616 an ounce while Silver (NYSE:SLV) rose 0.35% to settle at $28.16.

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

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has rejected the U.S. Department of Justice’s settlement proposal that would have the iPad maker dismantle its current e-book business structure with three major publishing houses. In a strongly-worded legal memo filed on Wednesday, Apple said that the proposed judgment would “terminate and rewrite Apple’s bargained-for contracts” before evidence, witness testimony, and disputed facts were resolved at trial. The Court’s decision would be final and irreversible.

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Cisco’s (NASDAQ:CSCO) shares jumped more than 9 percent, representing its greatest single-day percentage increase since August 2011. This came after the company reported a 56 percent rise in its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings. It will raise its quarterly dividend payment by 75 percent to 14 cents a share.

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) shares dropped 6.3 percent in response to the expiring lockup period for insiders to sell their IPO stock; from this, about 271 million shares of Facebook’s stock could hit the market on Thursday. Since going public on May 18, Facebook’s shares have dropped almost 50 percent from its $38 a share price. More than 1.3 billion additional Facebook shares will go on the market before year’s end as more lockup deadlines expire.

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) shares fell 8 percent after it reporting on Wednesday weaker-than-expected quarterly report and outlook.  It referred to an “environment of much slower growth” and subsequently cut its profit and sales forecast for the fiscal year.

PulteGroup Inc.’s (NYSE:PHM) shares rose 6.4 percent from the news that the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index increased 2 points to a seasonally-adjusted reading of 37; this is the greatest level since February 2007. The data suggest that the housing recovery can continue.

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Friday

Markets closed up on Wall Street today: Dow +0.19%, S&P +0.19%, Nasdaq +0.46%, Oil +0.53%, Gold -0.10%.

On the commodities front, Oil (NYSE:USO) rose to $96.13 a barrel. Precious metals declined, with Gold (NYSE:GLD) falling to $1618.00 an ounce while Silver (NYSE:SLV) fell 0.14% to settle at $28.07.

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

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) closed above $630 on Thursday for the first time since April 9, when it hit an intraday high of $644 before beginning a six-week decline that by May 18 had knocked $115 off the share price and more than $100 billion off the company’s market cap.The selloff continued last month when Apple reported a rare earnings miss, but while markets tested and held the $570 level in three separate trading sessions that week, shares never fell below that key support level.

On Friday, the rise continued and Apple closed at $648.11, hitting an all-time record high stock price in the meantime and clearing a 606 billion market cap.

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Ann Inc.’s (NYSE:ANN) shares rose 22 percent. The company reported strong second quarter earnings and exceeded profit estimates. It raised its full-year outlook and Piper Jaffray raised its rating from “Overweight” from “Underweight” with a $37 price target.

MetroPCS Communications Inc.’s (NYSE:PCS) shares jumped 5.8 percent and Leap Wireless International Inc.( LEAP ) rose 7.2 percent after J.P. Morgan said Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE:S) is now in better situation to purchase either company.

On the downside, Aeropostale Inc.’s (NYSE:ARO) shares dropped 10 percent after the company gave a weaker-than-expected profit forecast for its current quarter.

Marvell Technology Group’s (NASDAQ:MRVL) shares tanked 14 percent after the company disclosed disappointing quarterly results and outlook. Marvell said it has felt pressure from declining PC and smartphone demand and increasing competition from the Chinese phone market.

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