Lufkin Industries, Inc. (LUFK), Bank of America Corp (BAC), Palmeto Bancshares are Monday’s Leaders

Editor’s note: Related tickers: Lufkin Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:LUFK), Novogen Limited (ADR) (NASDAQ:NVGN), Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), Palmetto Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:PLMT), RADA Electronic Ind. Ltd. (NASDAQ:RADA)

The beginning of the week had some positive moves on the market. However, being a kind of race between companies, there are always losers and winners. Watching top gainers, losers, and volume leaders, can tell us something about market tendencies, that’s why we looked into these companies to try to find out what determines these moves.

The top leader on Monday is Lufkin Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:LUFK), which advanced by 37.76% to $88.07 in deals worth about $6.3 million, by 11.22 am EDT on Monday. The company started the week with some positive news. Today, General Electric announced about acquiring Lufkin Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:LUFK) at a price of some $3.3 billion ($88.50 per share). Lufkin Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:LUFK) is a company specialized in providing of artificial lift technologies for the oil and gas industry and a manufacturer of industrial gears. ““GE represents an excellent new home for Lufkin’s technologies, services and our highly skilled and experienced employees, [..] The global scale that GE offers, combined with its deep service offerings and network of research labs, will create new opportunities for our customers and employees around the world. This transaction allows us to realize our strategic objectives for expanding both our portfolio and our global platform and will allow us to reach global customers much faster and more effectively than we could have done as a standalone company. We believe the financial terms of the transaction represent full and fair value for Lufkin’s shareholders,” General Electric quoted John F. “Jay” Glick, Lufkin’s president and CEO in a statement.

The top leader in trading volume on Monday is Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), which maintains this title for the last couple of days. Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC)’s shares picked up 0.08% to $11.98 in turnover some $35.9 million by 11.23 am EDT. On Friday, a federal judge approved the $2.4 billion settlement with investors who lost money after the bank has acquired Merrill Lynch & Co.. Bank of America failed to disclose information about losses at Merill Lynch and bonuses paid to Merill Lynch employees before the brokerage was bought by Bank of America in 2009 for $18.5 billion, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

On the second place by trading volume stands Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY). The stock appreciated by 0.27% to $14.74 in deals worth some $16.3 million by 11.00 am EDT on Monday. We have reported today that according to an unconfirmed report by StockHouse.com Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) might sign a deal with the Chinese Bureau of Economic and Cultural Development, to sell 2 million Blackberry Q10 handsets and that “”a source close to the company says the Q10’s will be distributed to the Faculties of Mobile Hacking and Cyber Warfare.”

Now, let’s take a look at some less lucky companies today. The top loser on Monday is Palmetto Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:PLMT),which declined by  17.91% to $12.01 in deals worth $750 by 10.15 am EDT. A couple of days ago, Regional bank holding company Palmetto Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:PLMT) was one of the top gainers on the market. The company is followed by RADA Electronic Ind. Ltd. (NASDAQ:RADA) which lost 15.04% to $0.96 in deals worth approximately $7,200. RADA Electronic Ind. Ltd. (NASDAQ:RADA) is a company engaged in the defense electronics market and is headquarted in Israel.

A good Monday is a key to a successful week, so to cheer you up a little, we have compiled a list of 25 Best Star Wars Video Games of All-Time, because who doesn’t like Star Wars?