Bank of America Corp (BAC), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), And What Mr. Market’s Watching

Editor’s note: Related tickers include Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE:AMD) and American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG)
Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) has reached 15,000 for the first time following the job report that exceeded forecasts. The unemployment rate in the United States fell to 7.5%, while Non-Farm Payrolls increased by 165,000 jobs in April. So far so good, but let’s take a look at some corporate stocks and see which ones were the most traded in the opening hours of today’s session. It’s these behemoths that will have the biggest effect on Mr. Market by the end of the day.

Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC)

One stock heavily traded so far today is Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC). With the management making considerable efforts to deleverage in order to turn around the troubled bank, the stock has been offered a boost today: Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) announced yesterday, after market hours, the selling of five-year structured notes tied to the S&P 500 worth $108.5 million. According to the prospectus filed to the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC), the securities have a yield of more than 23% per year if the index does not fall below its initial value and also protects against losses up to 20%. By 10:30 AM, Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) was the leader of trades by volume, with 30 million shares changing hands. The stock has also advanced 1.19% to $12.34.

Another very active stock is Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE:AMD). The giant semiconductor producer has seen its stock rising heavily in the past few days, ending Wednesday at $3.22 and Thursday at $3.41. Today it’s no different: the stock has advanced 6.45% to $3.63, with a trade volume shy of 17 million shares as of 10:30 AM. The reason for such a strong appreciation of the stock are the rumors that Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE:AMD) “Temash” chips will be used on a new line of laptops to be soon released by Acer. AMD is also rumored to provide chips for Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE)’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s new Xbox 720.

American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG) stock has been changing hands at a high rate as well. The US’s biggest insurance company has just announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2013, surpassing the Wall Street expectations. American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG) has reported Earnings per Share (EPS) of $1.34, higher than the analysts’ estimates of $0.88 and operating income of $3 billion, according to Bloomberg. These results underline the new management’s astounding success in turning around the insurer that had too seek government bailout during the 2008 financial crisis. The stock has advanced 5.3%, trading at $44.38, with a volume of more than 14 million shares.

Disclosure: none