Market Preview: Sick of the Cliff?

Oppenheimer was out in support of the stock, suggesting investors buy Apple on the recent weakness.

"We see good potential for a near-term rebound to ~$620 before experiencing resistance," the firm said. "At this point the shares embed concerns around (1) the poor macro environment and weak consumer spending with regards to iPhone demand, (2) iPad mini pricing and tablet share losses, (3) management changes, and (4) margin compression. Not ignoring these challenges, we still believe the shares are overextended to the downside and embed too much pessimism regarding headwinds and execution."

Friday's economic calendar includes export and import prices for October at 8:30 a.m. ET; the initial University of Michigan consumer sentiment reading for November at 9:55 a.m. ET; and wholesale inventories for September at 10 a.m. ET.

And finally, shares of Walt Disney(DIS) were down more than 2% in after-hours action after the media giant posted an in-line profit but came up short on the top line.

Also, Groupon(GRPN) was getting walloped, dropping nearly 16% after the online deals company reported a surprise loss for its third quarter with revenue of $568.6 million missed Wall Street's consensus view of $590.1 million.

The big surprise late Thursday though was Priceline.com(PCLN) pulling off a surprise deal to acquire Kayak Software(KYAK) for $1.8 billion in cash and stock, valuing the shares at $40 each.

--Written by Michael Baron in New York.

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