Thursday's market moversGenentech, Dow, Geron among the most actively traded stocks Thursday.NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The following stocks were among the most actively traded on Thursday: Genentech (down $2.38 to $80.31, Charts) reported results that beat forecasts. Dow Chemical (up $1.10 to $46.19, Charts) said it had fired an executive and a board member who had spoken to a third party about a potential acquisition of the firm. Geron (down $0.19 to $7.37, Charts) The Senate voted to remove a ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research but not by a wide enough margin to overcome an expected presidential veto. Novastar Financial (up $0.36 to $5.39, Charts), a subprime lender, said it is exploring strategic alternatives, including a possible sale of the company. Research in Motion (down $10.96 to $135.06, Charts), the BlackBerry maker, reported a sharply higher fourth-quarter profit Wednesday, but also revealed the Securities and Exchange Commission has upgraded its informal probe into its stock options practice into a formal investigation. Sprint Nextel (up $0.52 to $19.70, Charts) surfaced in a Wall Street Journal report that said activist shareholder Ralph Whitworth has built a nearly 1 percent stake in the wireless telecom company and is using his position to call for changes, including a pullback in its capital spending and a potential sale of its fiber-optic networking and long-distance operation. Vonage (up $0.31 to $3.31, Charts), the internet phone company, saw its CEO Michael Snyder step down amid setbacks related to Verizon's patent suit against the company. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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