Stocks in Motion: Ballard

Updated from 2:50 p.m. EDT

Microsoft(MSFT Quote) fell in active trading Monday after confirming that its next major Windows upgrade will ship in 2006 without a long-awaited hard-drive filing function. While most analysts said the news was already reflected in Microsoft's price, which is 20 times the 2006 First Call estimate, the shares closed down 16 cents, or 0.6%, to $27.30 on typically high volume of 36 million shares. Intel(INTC Quote) closed down 42 cents, or 1.9%, to $21.60, in sympathy.

Ballard Power(BLDP Quote) rose 11%, while Plug Power(PLUG Quote) tacked on 1.7% ahead of an Energy Department announcement on how $77 million will be divided up for hydrogen-power research over the next year. The companies develop fuel cells, which incorporate hydrogen as a possible alternative source of energy for cars. Shares of Ballard, which traded up 65 cents to $6.51, and Plug, which traded up 11 cents to $6.33, often swing wildly with any development in their space.

United Rentals(URI Quote) fell 21.5% after disclosing that the Securities and Exchange Commission began a fact-finding probe of unspecified issues at the company that included a subpoena for certain accounting records. United Rentals said it's cooperating with the probe. The stock closed down $4.39 to $16. ...