Following several months of gains, both the Publishers Weekly Stock Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell back slightly in November (although the Dow recovered all of its November losses on the first day of trading in December, rising 249 points). The PWSI fell 2.1% in the month as stock prices of only four companies rose, while prices fell at 11. Amazon continued to be the strongest performer on the PWSI, rising another 6.1% in November as the e-tailer continued to ring up strong holiday sales as more Christmas shopping moves online. Since Jan. 1, Amazon's stock price has risen just over 30%. Among the losers in the month were Barnes & Noble and Borders Group, both of whose share prices slipped about 6% Nov. 30, the day after B&N released second quarter results that were slightly below analysts' expectations. Borders will release its results for the period ended Oct. 30 after the stock market closes on Dec. 9.

Source: publishers weekly

Winners

Company OCt. 29 Nov. 30 % Change
Amazon 165.23 175.40 6.1%
Disney Corp. 36.13 36.51 1.0
Hastings Ent. 6.59 6.65 0.9
Books-A-Million 6.35 6.37 0.3


Losers

Company OCt. 29 Nov. 30 % Change
R.R. Donnelley 18.45 15.76 -14.8
Borders Group 1.22 1.07 -12.3
McGraw-Hill Cos. 37.65 34.49 -8.4
Reed Elsevier 34.31 31.73 -7.5
Barnes & Noble 14.98 14.02 -6.4
Pearson 15.40 14.50 -5.8
Publishers Weekly Stock Index 446.80 437.27 -2.1
Dow Jones Aver. 11,118.49 11,006.02 -1.0