24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (TM, LVS, P, MWW, PCS, LEAP, CVGW, CCRN, SUP, VRNM, NATR, KERX, TSON, ARCL, GRH, YELP)

After opening lower this morning on weak data from Europe and Asia, the ISM non-manufacturing index for the US came in better than expected, but it was not enough to swing indexes toward gains. Eurozone PMI fell in February to a lower-than-expected reading of 49.3, reawakening fears of a second eurozone recession (more coverage here). The news from Asia was also weak, with China announcing an expected GDP growth rate of 7.5% for 2012, the lowest since 2004. The report on US new factory orders was also lower this morning. Crude oil has been see-sawing all day, and is now slightly higher. WTI crude is essentially flat at $106.72/barrel and Brent crude is up 0.13% at $123.81/barrel. Gold settled lower today, down -0.3% at $1,703.90/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down nearly 15 points to 12,962.81(-0.11%), the NASDAQ fell nearly 26 points (-0.86%) to 2,950.48, and the S&P 500 fell -0.39% or more than 5 points to 1,634.33.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) raised to ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse, Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) reiterated as ‘outperform’ and target price raised to $64 at Credit Suisse; Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) raised to ‘buy’ at Stifel Nicolaus; Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW) started as ‘outperform’ at BMO; and MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS) and Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) cut to ‘market perform’ at Bernstein.

Earnings reports since markets closed last Friday have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Calavo Growers Inc. (NASDAQ: CVGW) is down -1.37% at $26.63; Cross Country Healthcare Inc. (NASDAQ: CCRN) is up 0.19% at $5.39; Superior Industries International Inc. (NYSE: SUP) is up 7% at $19.06; Verenium Corp. (NASDAQ: VRNM) is down -10% at $3.10; and Nature’s Sunshine Products Inc. (NASDAQ: NATR) is up more than 16% at $17.00.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: KERX) is up nearly 34% at $4.95. The biopharma company is expected to win FDA approval soon for a cancer drug.

TranS1 Inc. (NASDAQ: TSON) is up about 22% at $4.00. The medical device maker received a code-change approval from the American Medical Association that incorporates one of TranS1’s devices.

Archipelago Learning Inc. (NASDAQ: ARCL) is up more than 22% at $11.05 after posting a new 52-week high of $11.21. The subscription-based provider of education products is being acquired for $291 million ($11.10/share) by a privately held competitor.

GreenHunter Energy Inc. (AMEX: GRH) is down about -12% at $2.75. The independent oil & gas company had no news today, but early weakness in crude prices moved share prices down for several small energy companies.

Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) is down nearly -14% at $21.18. The social networking company is seeing some profit-taking today following its successful IPO last Friday that saw shares gain about 64%.

Stay tuned for Tuesday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

11:30 a.m. – 4- and 52-week Treasury bill auction
3:00 p.m. – US Treasury STRIPS

Paul Ausick