Apple Hits $ 600 ( AAPL, CLWT, TWER, AIQ, SCKT, CSX, RVSN, OMG, AMD )

Stocks Digesting Recent gains, Apple Hits $600 (AAPL, CLWT, TWER, AIQ, SCKT, CSX, RVSN, OMG, AMD)

Major indices in U.S were trading with small gains and losses after hitting multi years high in the prior session on upbeat economic data and optimistic commentary from the Fed Reserve earlier in the week.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2 pints after gaining for the sixth straight session. The S&P was up 4 points to 1,398. The Nasdaq Composite gained 12 points at 3053.
Earlier in the morning, the Labor Department reported that U.S. jobless claims fell to 4-year low with unemployment benefits slid by 14,000 last week to 351,000 from 365,000, the government reported. Claims from the prior week were revised up from 362,000.
Also Thursday, the Labor Department said continuing claims fell by 81,000 to a seasonally adjusted 3.34 million in the week ended March 3.
Also, the producer price index surged a seasonally adjusted 0.4% last month, the Labor Department said Thursday, better than economists’ target of 0.5% hike.

Stocks In Focus:
Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) is single handedly taking the nasdaq higher with the stock crossing $600 mark for the first time and extending its YTD gains of over 48%. However, the stock came off session high and was recently trading at $592.50, up 0.50%. The stock has gained momentum ever since it launched its latest version of Ipad, which had prompted couple of brokerage firms to raise their price target on the stock above $700 including Piper

Euro Tech Holdings Co. Ltd.(NASDAQ:CLWT) is the biggest percentage gainer on climbed about 45% after announcing two new deals worth about $1.3million from two foreign companies outside China and one contract worth about US$2.2million from a company in Jiangsu, China.

In earnings news, Towerstream Corporation(NASDAQ:TWER) surged 32.315 to $3.44 after reporting lower than estimated loss for the fourth quarter and solid revenue outlook for the current quarter.

Alliance HealthCare Services, Inc.(NYSE:AIQ) shares soared over 30% after reporting lower than expected loss in its fourth quarter and projecting $470 million to $500 million in revenue for FY2012.

Socket Mobile, Inc.(NASDAQ:SCKT) gained 26% to $3.20 after reaching new 52-week high of $3.90 on the news that the Socket Bluetooth Cordless Hand Scanner 7Ci barcode scanner has been certified by Apple for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

CSX Corporation(NYSE:CSX) shares soared 6.20% after analyst at Barclays said that “we expect a slow coal recovery will remain an overhang for several quarters." CSX faces similar headwinds as NSC, but Barclays stays bullish on CSX since "a lower valuation and forecast cost reductions this year provide some buffer for shareholders."

RADVISION LTD. (USA)(NASDAQ:RVSN) continued to gain after Avaya Inc. agreed to acquire the company for $230 million or $11.85 a share in the deal, a 5.8% premium to its Wednesday close.
OM Group, Inc.(NYSE:OMG) climbed over 7% after analyst at First Analysis upgraded the stock to overweight, primarily on valuation.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.(NYSE:AMD) soared over 5% after being upgraded by Jefferies to buy and lifted the price target to $10.50 on risk/reward.