After a global sell-off that smacked of a meltdown, stock prices recovered when the Federal Reserve unexpectedly cut its short-term rate target by 0.75 percent, to 3.5 percent.
Among winners, shares of Sears Holdings Corp. rose the most in more than a year after the Hoffman Estates-based retailer provided details about how it will reorganize.
Its businesses will split into five units focusing on: operations of its home appliances, apparel and other lines; support services; development of its brands; real estate; and online sales growth. Sears said the change will boost “autonomy” and “accountability.”
The retail behemoth, run by hedge-fund investor Edward Lampert, has been trying to reverse sagging sales.
Sears Holdings stock ended at $99, a rise of 17 percent from a recent low of $84.72.
Shares of CME Group Inc., parent of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade, gained as waves of volatility swept the world.
The exchanges, which provide forums for enormous bets on the directions of stocks, currencies and interest rates, as well as commodities, prosper at times of uncertainty. And the unexpected interest rate cut by the Fed kicked trading into high gear.
CME Group stock finished at $629, a gain of 26 percent from a 52-week low of $497.
And shares of Molex Inc. gained the most since July 2002. The Lisle-based company is benefiting from a huge jump in demand for connectors used in cell phones. It said its quarterly revenue will expand to as much as $860 million, far more than analysts expected.
Shares of Molex closed at $24.23, up 17 percent from a recent low of $20.65.
On the downside, mobile phone-maker Motorola Inc. said its profit fell 84 percent in the fourth quarter and warned of an upcoming loss, declaring that the recovery in its handset business will take longer than expected.
The dismal results disappointed Wall Street. Motorola predicted that phone sales will drop “significantly” in the next three months after plunging 38 percent in the fourth quarter.
Analysts said customers fled to rivals Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.
The drop in its stock was the largest in almost seven years. It put Motorola back to levels of September 2003, when Christopher Galvin still was running the company.
Motorola shares closed Friday at $10.73, off 46 percent from a 52-week peak of $19.98.
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wsluis@tribune.com
