Futures Indicate Lower Open After Obama Plans to Raise Minimum Wage as Comcast Hits New 52 Week High

NEW YORK, February 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

McDonald's Corp., the largest restaurant chain in the world, was the biggest decliner in the Dow. The stock lost $1.10 to $94 after President Obama announced plans to raise the minimum wage. The Company, who has about 14,000 U.S. locations, saw shares fall more than 10% in 2012.

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Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) - Shares of CLF plunged on Wednesday, making the stock the 2^nd biggest loser on the NYSE. The stock closed down 19.99% after reporting a huge quarterly loss of $1.62 billion, or $11.36 per share, which is more than a third of what the entire company is worth today. The stock has a 52-week trading range of 28.05 - 73.63. Yesterday's volume at 35,448,782 shares was nearly five times higher than the stock's average volume. On January 30^th, the Company's SVP, Global Operations Service sold 3283 shares at $36.42. The Company engages in the production of iron ore pellets, fines and lump ore, and metallurgical coal.

Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) - CMCSA hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday at $42.00 a share. The stock closed modestly in the green up 2.98%. Comcast has a $16.7 billion deal to buy the remaining half of NBCUniversal and is doing it ahead of schedule. General Electric has a 49 percent stake in the NBCUniversal joint venture and Comcast announced this week they would buy it several years early. Comcast said it would finance the deal with $11.4 billion of cash on hand, $4 billion in debt owed to GE, $2 billion from its own credit lines and $725 million in preferred stock issued to GE. CMCSA traded 57,070,793 shares on Wednesday, significantly higher than the stock's average of 11,874,300 shares.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) - CSCO shares closed barely in the green at 21.14 on Wednesday, just a hair away from the stock's 52-week high of $21.34.The Company reported results for fiscal Q2 2013 that generally met analyst projections. For the quarter, the company posted net sales of $12.1 billion and non-GAAP net income of $2.7 billion ($0.51 per share). Cisco Systems logged revenue of $12.10 billion. The 36 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ looked for a top line of $12.06 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were the same as the prior-year quarters. On January 31^st, a Director of the company bought 7m309 shares.

Furniture Brands International Inc. (NYSE: FBN) - FBN was the biggest decliner on the NYSE yesterday closing in the red down 21.28%. The Company announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 29, 2012. Net sales of $264.0 million was an increase of 3.3% compared to the fourth quarter of 2011 and gross margin of 20.7%  was less than 23% in the fourth quarter of 2011. Total revenue for the year decreased 3.2% to $1.07 billion from $1.11 billion in 2011. Trading volume at 3,023,925 shares was significantly higher than the stock's average of 463,931 shares. Furniture Brands International, Inc. is a world leader in designing, manufacturing, sourcing and retailing home furnishings.

Plug Power Inc. (Nasdaq: PLUG) - Plug Power was the biggest loser on the Nasdaq yesterday closing down 26.42%. The stock hit a new 52-week low on Wednesday at $0.25. Trading volume was unusually high with over 2.7 million shares traded. Plug Power Inc. engages in the design, development, commercialization, and manufacture of fuel cell systems for the industrial off-road markets worldwide. One month ago shares of plug were trading at more than double its current price at $0.59.

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