Three Winners on the Financial Markets Today

Markets
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The financial markets continued their upward trend on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, up 7% last week, climbed another 0.65% today, up to 12,076.98. The Nasdaq had the highest percentage gain among the major indices, with a 1.10% hike. The S&P 500, meanwhile, was up 1.03% a in the wake of its most successful week since March 2009.

Several stocks took advantage of the surge. Here are three of the day’s biggest movers:

  1. SuccessFactors, Inc. (NYSE: SFSF): The California-based business execution software company shot up 51% today on news that German software giant SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) announced that it would be buying the company for $3.4 billion. SAP, the premier maker of business applications, is buying out SuccessFactors for its cloud computing software. SuccesFactors closed at $39.72, a tick under its 52-week high of $40.44, after opening the day at a mere $26.25 a share.
  2. Taleo Corp. (Nasdaq: TLEO): Interestingly, SuccessFactors’ software rival Taleo also made big strides. Taleo stock was up 21% today, going from $32.96 a share all the way up to $39.89. SAP’s buyout of SuccessFactors sparked speculation that Taleo may also be ripe for an acquisition, perhaps by Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL), SAP’s biggest rival.
  3. Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE: THC): After tumbling 10% on Friday, Tenet more than made up for its losses today, surging 12.2% to $4.69 a share. The quick recovery was the result of what many deemed an overreaction in the healthcare sector late last week to upcoming curbs in Medicare payments. Tenet had the day’s biggest gains in the hospital industry.
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