Nasdaq initially planned the first trades of Facebook stock for 11 a.m., then 11:05 a.m. The stock opened at about 11:30.
Facebook is trading at about $41, or $3 higher than its offering price. Volume is approaching 320 million shares traded.
— Tali Arbel, AP Business Writer
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12:55 p.m.
A FUND MANAGER WEIGHS IN
Chris Brown, manager of the Pax World Balanced mutual fund, made a roughly $14 million investment when his $1.9 billion fund acquired private shares of Facebook on a secondary market before the IPO.
As shares traded publicly for around $40 at midday Friday, Brown said the rise from the stock's $38 opening price was unsurprising.
"Going into the IPO, there has been a lot of skepticism from investors, in particular institutional investors, questioning anything from whether the price of the stock is fair, to whether Facebook can successfully monetize and sell ads," he said.
"We're long-term investors. It's nice to have the stock up for one day, but it's only one day. It's hard to extrapolate much as to the future of the company."
In coming days, Brown expects plenty of ups and downs for the stock, as investors assess a company whose prospects are hard to pin down because of its evolving business model.
"You're going to see obviously an extreme amount of volatility over the next week as people evaluate the stock," Brown said.
— Mark Jewell, AP Personal Finance Writer
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12:50 p.m.
THE OUTSIDER'S VIEW
"I'm part of the 99 percent. I don't buy stock shares," Jerry Urban said as he waited for a bus in Baltimore. "I wish them good luck. Tell them to stop selling my information."
Facebook stock is at about $40.50, or $2.50 higher than its offering price.
— Alex Dominguez, AP Baltimore bureau
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12:24 p.m.
SHOULD YOU BUY? A VIEW FROM ONE BANKER
Facebook stock is up about 6 percent from its offering price. More than a quarter-billion shares have been traded.
Blessing Oguguam of Nashville, Tenn., a vice president in business banking for Wells Fargo who has worked in commercial lending for 15 years, said he was not comfortable buying Facebook stock:
"I'm thinking it's great for now. But 10 years from now, is that crave still going to be there? So if I go ahead and invest now, I know Facebook is not producing any product. It's just a social media site. So in 10 years to come, if this hype dies down, then what happens to my investment?"
— Lucas L. Johnson II, AP Nashville bureau
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12:19 p.m.
WATCHING OTHER SOCIAL STOCKS
Some recent quotes from other social media stocks:
LinkedIn: Down 2.2 percent.
Groupon: Down 6 percent.
Zynga: Down 13 percent, and apparently halted. Its last trade was about 40 minutes ago.
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12:17 p.m.
ELSEWHERE IN TECH LAND
It's a good day for some other big-name technology stocks.
Stock in Yahoo is up more than 5 percent after a report from All Things D, a website devoted to technology news, that Yahoo was close to selling part of its valuable stake in the Chinese Internet company Alibaba Group.
Apple, which has fallen more than $100 per share from its all-time high of $644 earlier this year, is up 1.3 percent at $537. Google is up 0.3 percent at $624 per share.
Meanwhile, Facebook has nudged back over the $40 level, and volume has surpassed 250 million shares traded.
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12:02 p.m.
BACK UP FOR THE DAY
Facebook stock has climbed back to about $40 as trading volume surpasses 220 million shares. The stock had opened at $42.05 and sunk back to $38, its offering price, but did not cross below that level. That indicates heavy buying interest in the stock at $38.
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11:50 a.m.
DRIFTING BACK TOWARD $38
Facebook stock, which opened with a gain of about $4 over its offering price of $38, has steadily drifted lower in the first half-hour of trading. It is hovering now at about $38. Trading volume is closing in on 200 million shares.
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