Sunday, December 11, 2011

Today’s Market Movers: LNKD, GMCR, YUM, UHLN

A healthy amount of fear is slowly creeping back into the markets today. Stocks are firmly in the red for the first time since the post-Thanksgiving rally began. The indexes aren��t off by much- but it��s enough to slow the torrid rally that has lifted equities for the past two weeks.

Pullbacks like this one can be telling. After the rising tide has washed everything onto the beach, the garbage will more often than not flow back out to sea when the water begins to recede. Unfortunately for some investors, many of the momentum darlings from earlier this year are beginning to lose their luster.

Today, I��ll be taking a look at a couple of former high-flyers that are struggling to regain their magic from earlier this year…

Linkedin Corp. (NYSE:LNKD): Linkedin provided Wall Street with plenty of hype, but it��s severely lacking consistency. November was an especially brutal month for the recent IPO, with shares falling from a high of $95 to below $60 before the holiday bounce snapped it back above $70. LNKD remains in a precarious positions today, despite the fact that shares are up more than 1% as of midday. The stock is approaching resistance at $75. If it continues to run into sellers at this level, I would expect the stock to resume its downtrend. On the other hand, another broad market push could help shares find its mojo:

LinkedIn Corp.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR): Green Mountain looked unstoppable earlier this year �� and now it looks as if it can��t regain its footing after a disastrous fall from grace. Now light years from its 52-week high of $116, the stock is struggling to keep up with the rallying market. Since early November, the stock has been working to fill the huge gap down near $60. Resistance appears to be very strong at this p! rice, so I would not be surprised to see this name fall further in the near-term. The opportunity to go short is there, with a stop loss placed slightly above $60:

Green Mountain Coffee, Inc.

Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE:YUM): Last week, I highlighted the rise of pizza stocks. It might sound completely absurd, but pizza-related companies have been dominating the market. Now, we can add Yum Brands to the list. Yum!, which owns Pizza Hut (along with KFC, Taco Bell, and a few other prominent fast-food chains) is marching to new 52-week highs today:

Yum! Brands, Inc.

Penny Promotions

[Editor��s note: In this section of Market Movers, we expose stocks that are currently the subject of promotional material. If you��re unfamiliar with promotions, pumps and dumps, or other penny stock scams, please take the time to read this column before continuing. Unless you are an experienced trader, we recommend that you avoid these stocks at any price.]

US Highland Inc. (OTC:UHLN): I received numerous spam promotions for this stock earlier this week, but I doubt the stock��s rise will last much longer. Volume is down significantly today (only a couple of days into the pump). I have a feeling the rug will get yanked out from under this name soon enough, sending shares back below 3 cents. Avoid this one at any price:

US Highland, Inc.

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