Stocks to Watch: PG, YHOO, MRK & More

Take a look at some of Thursday's midday movers:

Procter and Gamble moved higher on news that hedge fund manager William Ackman had taken a new position in the company. Ackman’s Pershing Square received approval from the FTC to acquire the stake.

Yahoo's shares were a bit lower. The company declined to name a new permanent CEO at its shareholders meeting, though shareholders did approve all 11 board members. Separately it said an old file with 400,000 logins and passwords were stolen yesterday.

Merck jumped on news that a clinical trial of an experimental osteoporosis drug was halted early due to “robust efficacy”.

Hotel stocks slide

Citi says Marriott’s 6.7 percent increase in revenue per available room was underwhelming. Marriott, Starwood and Hyatt all traded down.

SAP was one of the few tech stocks higher after the business software maker reported better than expected earnings.

Infosys tumbled after the Indian IT company cut its sales forecast more than expected. The company said technology spending has been hurt by global economic uncertainty.

Supermarkets all losing ground

Kroger , Safeway , Whole Foods and Roundys all traded to the downside on news of Supervalu’s weak earnings.

United Continental Holdings fell after it announced it will buy 100 Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes and fifty 737-900ER planes for $14.7 billion.

Sears was lower following negative comments from a Midwest research firm, which said Q2 sales would come in weaker than expected.

Tyson , Smithfield Foods , and Archer Daniels Midland were lower on analyst downgrades due to higher corn prices and weak margins.

Teucrium Corn Fund rose as corn futures traded higher on worries of tighter supplies due to crop damage from the extreme hot weather and drought.

Navistar was higher as Carl Icahn raised his stake in the company to 13.9 percent

Goldstocks fell as gold prices continued to fall, with the gold index hitting a 2 month low. Kinross Gold , Goldcorp , Agnico-Eagle Mines , IAMGOLD , Barrick Gold , and YamanaGold all fell.

Constellation Brands was on the rise. UBS said despite the recent run-up in the stock, more near-term upside is possible.

Questions? Comments? Email us at [e-mail]