All That Glitters Is Goldman — Wednesday’s IP Market Recap

The markets were plenty upbeat Wednesday as the S&P 500 cleared the 1,300 mark for the first time in months, pushed higher as big names in tech and finance gained on big news.

Financial giant Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) gained 6.8% on Wednesday despite a 58% drop in profit. Even though Q4 earnings fell from $3.79 per share in 2010 to $1.84 last year, the result still was higher than the cellar-dwelling Wall Street expectation for $1.23. GS shares are closing in on their December high slightly above $105, finishing Wednesday trading at $104.31.

Sector brethren Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) caught most of the lightning in GS�s bottle, climbing roughly the same as Goldman Sachs despite reports that it might be laying off more employees after recently cutting 1,600 workers.

Embattled search giant Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) was up more than 3% today after Tuesday�s announcement that co-founder Jerry Yang was stepping down from his position on Yahoo�s board of directors. Yang was considered a roadblock to a possible sale or merger, and his departure was interpreted by many investors as a sign that Yahoo is on the trading block. YHOO shares finished at $15.92.

Positivity on the German front also helped to boost the solar sector Wednesday. The world�s No. 1 solar market is expected to make cuts to subsidies, but a Deutsche Bank analyst said those cuts might be lower than thought. Names like Suntech Power (NYSE:STP, +15.3%), First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR, +7.5%) and Trina Solar (NYSE:TSL, +3.9%) jumped on the news.

Three Up

• Altera (NASDAQ:ALTR): Up 9.9% ($3.66) to $40.72.
• ING Groep (NYSE:ING): Up 6.7% (54 cents) to $8.65.
• Weatherford International (NYSE:WFT): Up 6% (91 cents) to $16.18.

Three Down

• State Street (NYSE:STT): Down 6.6% ($2.80) to $39.95.
• Apollo Group (NASDAQ:APOL): Down 6.4% ($3.67) to $54.03.
• Zynga (NASDAQ:ZNGA): Down 6.2% (57 cents) to $8.65.

Kyle Woodley is the assistant editor of InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Check out recaps from previous trading days here.