FireEye soars after buying hacking experts Shares of cybersecurity company FireEye jumped after acquiring Mandiant, the computer forensics specialist best known for unveiling a secretive Chinese military unit believed to be behind a series of hacking attacks on US companies, Reuters reports. FireEye, which made the acquisition on Thursday, climbed 21.6 per cent to $50.02. The PHLX semiconductor index edged down 0.1 per cent, weighed down by a 1.8 drop in Micron Technology to $21.28 after RBC lowered its rating on the stock to a "sector perform" from "outperform." Twitter rose 2.6 per cent to $69.23 - shares in the social media company have burst out of the gate in 2014 with a gain of more than 6 per cent. Ford Motor shares were flat at $15.44 and General Motors slumped 3 per cent to $39.70 after posting their December sales. Boeing rose 0.7 per cent to $137.67 with 31,000 machinists due to vote on Friday on a labour contract offer tied to the new 777X factory, a crucial decision that will affect where the aerospace giant builds its newest jetliner. If the workers accept the deal, Boeing will build the new wide-body jet and its wings in the Seattle area, using those workers. If they reject it, Boeing says it will make the wings, and possibly the whole plane, elsewhere, beginning what could be a big loss of jobs and economic activity in Washington state, where Boeing has built planes for more than 90 years. Bank of America shares added 2.1 per cent to $16.43. The second-largest US bank by assets remained the top underwriter in a shrinking US municipal bond market in 2013 while California sold the most debt in the year, Thomson Reuters data released on Thursday showed. Sprint fell 4.4 per cent to $9.95 after Stifel Nicolaus downgraded the US telecommunications company's stock to "sell" from "hold," citing the company's likelihood of regulatory approval to take a majority stake in the US wireless carrier T-Mobile US as an "uphill battle in Washington in the near-term." Japan's SoftBank is looking to have its recently acquired US unit, Sprint, take a majority stake in T-Mobile from the latter's parent Deutsche Telekom in the financial year starting April, according to people close to the matter. Joy Global , the mining equipment maker, dropped 1.3 per cent to $55.64 after Goldman Sachs downgraded its stock to "sell" from "neutral." Global Geophysical Services added 2.5 per cent to $1.65. The company, which makes equipment to monitor seismic data, said its unit would sell 20,000 recording systems to oilfield services provider Seismic Equipment Solutions for $9.5m. Landec , which makes polymer products for food and biomedical industries, rose 2.6 per cent to $12.33 after reporting lower than expected second-quarter sales on Thursday. Landec also reported a 61 per cent drop in profit as a severe produce shortage increased costs in its unit Apio's value-added vegetable business. NPS Pharmaceuticals gained 0.4 per cent to $31.84. The drugmaker said the European Commission granted an orphan drug status to its experimental drug, Natpara, for the treatment of hypoparathyroidism. Under the guidelines of the European health regulator, an orphan designation provides the drug, if approved, up to 10 years of potential market exclusivity. Jamba , the operator of Jamba Juice smoothie stores, fell 2.9 per cent to $11.99 after Wedbush Securities downgraded its rating on the stock to "neutral" from "outperform." Exelon shed 2.1 per cent to $26.59 as analysts at Citi Investment Research cut their rating on the US utility's stock to "sell" from "neutral." US stocks rebounded modestly on Friday after Wall Street began the new year with a broad decline and investors grappled with a snowstorm that blasted the northeastern US. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3 per cent to 16,497.48, the S&P 500 gained 0.3 per cent to 1,836.66 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.1 per cent to 4,145.58. US stocks suffered their worst decline since December 11 on Thursday, their first day of trading in 2014, as investors booked profits in the wake of the S&P 500"s best yearly advance since 1997, with many of last year's strongest performers down on the day. After closing 2013 with a gain of 29.6 per cent, its best yearly performance since 1997, the S&P 500 opened the year with a decline of 0.9 per cent as each of the 10 major S&P sectors lost ground. Market volume, already expected to be on the light side as many market participants remain out of the office due to the new year's holiday-interrupted week, will probably be anaemic after a snowstorm caused more than 4,000 US flight delays and cancellations, paralysed road travel, and closed schools and government offices. "After a first trading day jolt, the market is stabilising and, where we are now, it could easily be swayed in either direction due to lack of attendance from the inclement weather," said Andre Bakhos, managing director at Janlyn Capital in Bernardsville, New Jersey. There is a faction of investors that are looking at yesterday's pullback as an opportunity to enter equities at a discounted price.