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Nasdaq & ( $FB ) trading problems on IPO opening on ( $OMX ) ?

noreply@blogger.com ($ Mad Money Fund $) — Sat, 19 May 2012 04:47:38 PDT

Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NDAQ) late Friday scrambled to address frustration among brokers and traders, who sought clarity on whether some trades in the newly issued shares of Facebook Inc. (FB) had gone through.
However, a late-day process meant to resolve the matter was seen drawing limited participation from brokers who were impacted by the trading issues, and Nasdaq OMX told traders in a later notice that the effort "resulted in nothing done."
Stock market regulators, meanwhile, planned to review Nasdaq OMX's handling of the Facebook initial public offering, in what a Securities and Exchange Commission spokesman said was in line with standard practices.
The glitches that dogged the Facebook offering marred the biggest IPO on record in terms of valuation at the time of the offering, and one that was hotly anticipated by both retail and institutional investors.
Facebook's debut was also to be a point of pride for Nasdaq OMX, burnishing the exchange's reputation as the venue of choice for a new breed of Internet companies.
Technical problems with the Facebook flotation, however, cropped up ahead of the shares' opening for live trading Friday, as brokers and investors found themselves unable to cancel or alter trades that began to be placed for the shares earlier in the morning.
Nasdaq OMX delayed the Facebook IPO's open for 30 minutes before the stock eventually began to trade at 11:30 a.m. EDT. Shares in the social media heavyweight, priced at $38 in the IPO, jumped to $45 before easing back to close at $38.23.
Representatives for Nasdaq OMX didn't respond to requests for comment.
Brokers on Friday afternoon were focused on orders for Facebook shares placed after the IPO was delayed at 11:05 a.m. but before the 11:30 a.m. open, some of which were later returned without being filled.
Some brokerage officials said they felt their customers, including institutional investors, were owed fills on those orders, because Nasdaq OMX acknowledged the orders before Facebook shares opened for trading and never told customers that orders sent after the delay wouldn't be honored.
Nasdaq OMX officials told traders in a notice late Friday afternoon that the exchange would resolve the matter through an "offline matching process" for which affected firms needed to sign up.
"If at the end of that process, a firm continues to have questions or concerns, the firm needs to submit a formal accommodation request to us through the normal channels," exchange officials wrote in the notice.
That process, Nasdaq OMX officials told traders in a later notice, "resulted in nothing done." Customers were reminded that "accommodation" requests must be turned in in writing by noon on Monday, May 21.
A spokesman for the SEC said "as is our practice, staff will review the incident with Nasdaq to determine its cause and steps that will be taken to address it."
Meanwhile retail traders and other investors remained in the dark for hours as to the status of orders placed earlier in the day, left without confirmation after making changes to the price or size of standing trades, or trying to withdraw them altogether.
"I've had headaches [trading], but never this bad," said Joseph Cohn, a website software developer based in Suffern, N.Y.
Cohn, who said he maintains a retail investment account through Fidelity Investments, placed two orders for Facebook shares Friday and later canceled them both, but hours later remained unsure whether the orders had been filled or not.
Cohn said he waited on hold for 35 minutes with Fidelity before a representative told him that the problem was Nasdaq's responsibility. "This is ridiculous," he said.
Fidelity alerted clients to what it called "FB order execution slowness."
"Marketplaces and other broker/dealers experienced severe slowness this morning, and unfortunately, those issues impacted our customers," said Stephen Austin, a spokesman for Fidelity, in a statement. "But Fidelity's systems operated normally. We continue to work closely with the marketplaces to ensure that impacted orders for Facebook are resolved as soon as possible."
Mark Turner, co-head of sales trading at electronic brokerage Instinet, said he could not recall such a hiccup striking previous IPOs, and called it a "black eye" for Nasdaq OMX.
Nasdaq OMX had conducted multiple tests of its IPO systems over the past week and took the unusual step of holding a two-hour, market-wide conference call around the time of the Facebook flotation Friday.
The exchange group's chief executive Bob Greifeld, told The Wall Street Journal in an interview early Friday that Nasdaq had "changed system capabilities based on the expected flow of orders" for Facebook shares in its IPO, and that Nadsaq OMX has been double-checking systems for weeks.
Nasdaq OMX's own share price suffered as the delay in rolling out Facebook's stock dragged on, and traders waited to get confirmations of their business in the stock.
The exchange group's stock closed 4.4% lower at $21.99, while other U.S. exchange stocks ended the day higher.

-By Jacob B.

Facebook $FB how high will the stock rise today ? 50 , 75, 99 a share ?

noreply@blogger.com ($ Mad Money Fund $) — Fri, 18 May 2012 06:16:40 PDT

Facebook Expected To Rise On First Day

   By Lynn C.

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Facebook Expected To Rise On First Day

   By Lynn C.

Analysts are expecting Facebook Inc. (FB) to make early trading gains during its IPO debut Friday, but it is unclear how big of a pop investors could see in the social network's stock.
Trading in the company's shares is scheduled to begin around 11 a.m. EDT on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The initial public offering priced Thursday night at $38 a share, at the high end of a raised range of $34 to $38. That range was boosted earlier this week from its original level of $28 to $35 in response to investor demand.
David Menlow, president of research firm IPOfinancial.com, says he isn't expecting a "huge pop" for Facebook. Predictions for the deal have ranged from dire--everyone trying to sell on the first day, something he feels is unlikely--to the possibility of it making a double-digit percentage trading gain.
"I think people will buy and hold for the longer term," Menlow said, adding that he would like to see the company's stock settle somewhere between $40 and $45, which he would interpret as a sign of a stable valuation.
Facebook is the 18th IPO world-wide so far this year to price above initial projections, said Dealogic, and if past performance is any indication, the stock should rise. All of the 17 previous deals around the globe that priced above range recorded first-day gains, averaging a 44.8% pop, according to Dealogic. The company's data only counts global deals in 2012 that raised more than $50 million.
A total of 421.2 million shares were sold in the company's IPO, up from its original plans for 337.4 million shares. If the company's over-allotment option is exercised by bankers, the total shares will come in at 484.4 million, generating $18.41 billion, making it the second-largest U.S. offering ever, behind record-holder Visa Inc.'s (V) $19.65 billion deal in 2008, according to Dealogic.
At that level, Facebook's offering size nudges aside former No. 2 U.S.-ranked General Motors Co. (GM), which raised $ 18.14 billion in 2010, according to Dealogic.
In terms of total market valuation at the time of its offering, Facebook holds the title of largest in the U.S., at $ 104.1 billion, ahead of United Parcel Service's (UPS) $67 billion valuation when it went public in 1999, according to Dealogic.
At that valuation, Facebook would be the 23rd largest U.S. company by market cap, ahead of Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), according to Capital. It would be the 909th in terms of revenue.
Facebook, in just eight years, has become a ubiquitous online site, with more than 900 million monthly users. Demand ran high for the deal early on, thanks to Facebook's dominance in social media, its profitability and its strong brand name. The company's website is used daily by many for keeping up personal connections with far-flung family and friends, but it has also played a role in world politics, as when protestors in Egypt used the service to help coordinate demonstrations that ousted that country's leader.
Facebook generated $1.06 billion in revenue in the first quarter, up 45% from the same period a year earlier, as it delivered more ads; for all of last year, it reported revenue of $3.71 billion, up 88% from 2010 levels, as it delivered more ads and increased the average price per ad. The company makes the bulk of its money from advertising.
Net income in the first quarter declined 12% to $205 million compared with the same period of 2011; the company said one major factor in its bottom-line decline was an increase in share-based compensation expense related to restricted stock units awarded as part of compensation after Jan. 1. Net income rose 65% to $1 billion in all of 2011 compared to 2010.
-By Lynn C.

  (END) Dow Jones
  05-18-120902ET
  Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Facebook ( FB ) Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering at $38 a share

noreply@blogger.com ($ Mad Money Fund $) — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:24:36 PDT

Facebook Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering Print Alert Facebook Com USD0.000006 CL A (MM) (NASDAQ:FB) Intraday Stock Chart Today : Thursday 17 May 2012 Facebook Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering PR Newswire MENLO PARK, Calif., May 17, 2012 MENLO PARK, Calif., May 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) today announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 421,233,615 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $38 per share. The shares are expected to begin trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market on May 18, 2012, under the symbol "FB." Facebook is offering 180,000,000 shares of Class A common stock and selling stockholders are offering 241,233,615 shares of Class A common stock. Closing of the offering is expected to occur on May 22, 2012, subject to customary closing conditions. In addition, Facebook and the selling stockholders have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 63,185,042 additional shares of Class A common stock to cover over-allotments, if any. Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Goldman, Sachs & Co., BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Allen & Company LLC, Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank Securities are serving as book runners for the offering. RBC Capital Markets and Wells Fargo Securities are serving as active co-managers. The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the prospectus related to the offering may be obtained from: Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10014, Attention: Prospectus Department (Tel: +1 866 718 1649; e-mail: prospectus@morganstanley.com); J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, (Tel: +1 866 803 9204); or Goldman, Sachs & Co., 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282, Attention: Prospectus Department (Tel: +1 866 471 2526, e-mail: prospectus-ny@ny.email.gs.com). A registration statement related to these securities has been filed with, and declared effective by, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

Long Term Stock Picks * As Seen On CNBC

Nasdaq & ( $FB ) trading problems on IPO opening on ( $OMX ) ?

Facebook $FB how high will the stock rise today ? 50 , 75, 99 a share ?

Facebook Expected To Rise On First Day

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Facebook Expected To Rise On First Day

Facebook ( FB ) Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering at $38 a share