It's Official, the NYSE will close on Tuesday

It's official, the NYSE will close on Tuesday to honor President Ford. Interestingly, NASDAQ took the lead on this one.

NASDAQ said it will close on Tuesday January 2nd

JUST IN: NASDAQ said it will close on Tuesday January 2nd to honor President Ford. No word from the NYSE yet.

Stocks to Watch Tomorrow 12/29

Another completely dead day in the market.

We just heard that Bush will make January 2nd a federal holiday to honor President Ford. We haven't heard any word on whether the market will be opened or closed on Tuesday. The talking heads on TV said they may do a half a day.

The IPO we've been writing about recently, Fuwei Films Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq: FFHL), continues to find fans. The stock jumped nearly 35% today to $17.50. Not bad considering it was brought the the market at $8.28.

Apple Computer (Nasdaq: AAPL) gave the dip buyers another chance today after the FT rehashed the options scandal stuff (slow news day). Yeah, if Jobs is forced to leave the company the stock could drop $10-$15, but the chances of that happening are about 5%.

Microcap Point.360 (Nasdaq: PTSX) jumped 49% today and no it wasn't manipulated higher. The stock actually had legitimate news. Larger rival DG FastChannel (Nasdaq: DGIT) bought up 11.4% of the company from a hedge fund, paying up $3.25 per share in a negotiated deal dated 12/22 when the stock was at $2.40 in the open market that day. In a disclosure, DG FastChannel noted they entered a nondisclosure agreement with PTSX in August. This looks like a possible hostile takeover situation. One could speculate that DGIT and PTSX held talks but they couldn't come up with an agreement and now DGIT is trying to go around them. This may be hard. Chairman and CEO Haig Bagerdjian owns 27% of the company and Julia Stefanko, the ex-wife of former CEO Luke Stefanko, owns 17%.

Say it at so! Northfield Laboratories Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLD) finally had a up day after its blow-up last week. Has is hit a bottom? What about Sally Beauty (NYSE: SBH)? - up 2.6% today after a steady decline since negative news on the L'Oreal rights.

Encysive Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: ENCY) announced mid-day that the FDA finally said they will review the New Drug Application (NDA) for THELIN. Sounds like good new right? Wrong - the FDA gives the review a Class 2 resubmission status instead of the hoped for Class 1 resubmission and sets a PDUFA date of June 15. The stock drops 23.6% on the news. OUCH.

Stocks to Watch Tomorrow 12/28

Jolly Old Saint Nick kept the presents coming today. The Dow hit a new all-time high over 12,500!

The has-news-will-maniuplate micro cap bull market continued, making us a little cautious. When investors start playing into the greater fool game it is usually a sign of a short-term top. Sento Corp. (Nasdaq: SNTO) jumped 69% today ahead of results, Infosonics Corp. (Nasdaq: IFON) jumpted 44% today after partnering with LG. Nucryst Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: NCST) (+30%) and OraLabs Holding (Nasdaq: OLAB) (+37%) both jumped for no good reason. Another one we were watching, ZI Corp. (Nasdaq: ZICA), finally started seeing profit taking after its two-day meteoric rise.

Threshold Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: THLD) is moving 20% higher in after-hours action after announceing Phase 2 clinical trial of glufosfamide in combination with gemcitabine for the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer. The company said they were "pleased with these encouraging top-line results" While investors don't seem to care, we did notice a note on saftey of the combo in the middle of the press release that could throw a wrench in things. The company said, "Preliminary analysis of the safety data in this Phase 2 glufosfamide and gemcitabine combination trial suggests the incidence of treatment-related nephrotoxicity may be slightly higher than what was observed in previous experience with either of these agents used individually."

See that snap-back in Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) today? Down nearly $5 early then closed in the green! I guess the big boys were making trades from the slopes after calls on their batphones from the rooks manning the desks. How about GOOG (Nasdaq: GOOG)? - plus $10.50! What up with Citigroup (NYSE: C)? - new 52-week high! Gotta love it!

Stocks to Watch Tomorrow 12/27

If you like watching paint dry then this is your week. Short of a $50 billion private equity buyout announcement before year-end (which could happen), this week looks like a complete waste.

The homies could see some interest tomorrow related to the release of November New Home Sales: Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE: HOV), Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL), Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM), D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI), Centex (NYSE: CTX), KB Home (NYSE: KBH), MDC Holdings (NYSE: MDC), Ryland Group (NYSE: RYL), Beazer Homes USA (NYSE: BZH), Meritage Homes (NYSE: MTH), WCI Communities (NYSE: WCI), Standard Pacific Corp. (NYSE: SPF).

ZI Corp. (Nasdaq: ZICA) is the latest has-news-will-maniuplate micro cap stock, jumping 45% today following Friday’s 87% run-up after the company announced the deployment of Qix by T-Mobile on 25,000 Nokia N70 mobile phones. The stock closed at $0.94 last Thursday – now at $2.52.

Last week’s hot IPO Fuwei Films Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: FFHL) rose another 8% today.

Escala Group Inc. (Nasdaq: ESCL) closed in the plus column today (+3.4%) after seeing some pressure the past few sessions after last week’s massive move on news the company said they weren’t crooks. The stock was much higher earlier in the session. ESCL continues to be a battlegroud for shorts, shorts that want to cover, buyers who want to squeeze the shorts and dilusion long-term buyers.

Telik Inc. (Nasdaq: TELK) was this week’s biotech blow-up du jour. The stock sank 71% today after ugly news across the board on three Phase 3 cancer drug trials. TELK joins the ranks of mess-of-a-biotech company Northfield Laboratories (Nasdaq: NFLD), which still can’t gain any traction after last week’s blood substitute disaster.

After the close, FT.com reported that Bisys Group Inc. (NYSE: BSG) could be considering a management-led buyout.