TradingMarkets 7 Stocks You Need to Know for Monday

Blue chips stocks ended the day higher, while the Nasdaq lagged in spite of some impressive performances from technology shares.

The Dow gained 43.97 on Friday. The Nasdaq Composite lost 1.15. And the S&P 500 added 5.27.

Here are 7 Stocks You Need to Know for Monday

Retailers were among the big gainers on Friday, with Kohl's (KSS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) and Nordstrom (JWN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) beating analyst earnings estimates and closing higher by more than 7% and 4%, respectively.

Also moving higher at week's end were semiconductor stocks including Cypress Semiconductor (CY | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) which was up by more than 12% and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating), which was up more than 6%.

The S&P's decision not to downgrade the credit ratings of Ambac Financial Group (ABK | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) and MBIA, Inc. (MBI | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) led to strong rallies in shares of both companies on Friday.

Lowe's (LOW | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) reports earnings Monday morning before the market opens. Analysts are expecting EPS of $0.56.

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