Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Thursday, February 08, 2007
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JEFF YASTINE: The Dow fell 91 points right at the open. HSBC, the second largest writer of sub-prime mortgages in the U.S., noted a growing number of customer defaults and that put a crimp on financial stocks. Both the Dow and the NASDAQ did manage to trim much of those earlier losses as energy stocks firmed on a late-day rise in oil prices.
So the Dow closed off 29.24 at 12,637.63 and the NASDAQ fell just 1.8 points to 2488.67. The S&P dropping .71 to 1448.31. And the Treasury's auction of 30-year bonds found lots of buyers today. And that helped push bond prices to a one-month high with the 10-year note rising 2/32 to 99 4/32 and pushing the yield down to 4.74 percent.
starting things off, EMC Corp (EMC) gaining $0.90. It's selling a 10 percent stake in its VMware unit, which it's going to take public and executives hope to benefit from the growing market for tools that improve computer server efficiency. Goldman Sachs issued a "buy" on the stock.
And Qwest Comm (Q) losing $0.09. Profits taking a hit on the latest quarter due to all those storms and the outages in Washington and Oregon. Also the regional phone company noting it signed up over 650,000 customers for high-speed Internet service.
General Electric (GE) dropping $0.36.
Time Warner (TWX) off $0.34.
Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) gaining $0.58.
And here we see New Century Financial (NEW) plunging nearly $11. This is the third largest writer of sub-prime mortgages and the management restating financials from the last three quarters because of mounting bad debt in the sub-prime sector.
And another one, HSBC Holdings (HBC), this is the number two sub-prime mortgage lender sliding over $2. The company noting of course a rise in defaults among its sub-prime customers and a slide in loan growth and that news took down the rest of the sub-prime sector today.
Accredited Home Lenders (LEND), Countrywide Financial (CFC), Novastar Financial (NFI) and even Wells Fargo & Co (WFC), which is the largest sub- prime lender, all in the red today.
Then we have ExxonMobil (XOM) which lost $0.67, excuse me, gained $0.67. The New York attorney general's office suing the oil giant and several other oil firms. The lawsuit wants to expedite clean-up efforts of a large oil spill in the Brooklyn area of New York.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) dropping $0.37.
Pfizer (PFE) losing a fraction.
Waste Management (WMI) down nearly $3, the sell-off there due to lower than expected revenues in its latest quarter.
Pepsico (PEP) dropping more than $1. Profits in the fourth quarter in line, but the soft drink bottler giving a cautious outlook due to weak Gatorade sales.
And here's Federated Department Stores (FD). It was $1.54, 8.6 percent jump in same store sales as shoppers armed with gift cards blitzed stores for those post-holiday sales.
Another retailer here, Circuit City Stores (CC) rising $1.39. The electronics chain is going to restructure with some management changes and the closing of 70 poorly performing stores, mostly in Canada.
Then we move on to America Movil (AMX) which had a strong subscriber growth over this past quarter and that's certainly helping out the stock today, looking to sign up even more in the coming quarter.
Shares in Carlisle Cos (CSL) standing tall on hefty fourth quarter profits, encouraging guidance and a two for one stock split. The stock bolting $9 higher to an all-time high.
Now over to the NASDAQ where Apple (AAPL) lost a fraction.
Google (GOOG) advanced $1. Its acquisition of youtube netting - youtube's three co-founders more than $700 million for about 1.5 million shares in total. That's how much Google paid for their stakes in that deal.
Then Microsoft (MSFT) dropped $0.11.
Research in Motion (RIMM) climbing $1.71.
Intel (INTC) backing of $0.15.
And then we have Qualcomm (QCOM) gaining $0.68.
Broadcom (BRCM) up for the day.
Oracle (ORCL) down $0.20.
National Cinemedia (NCMI) up $4.67, a new issue, it operates a digital network that distributes movies to theater chains so they don't have to be physically shipped from place to place.
Accuray (ACAY), another IPO, 18 - excuse me 16 million shares priced at $18.
And finally, Switch and Data (SOXC) up $2. Another IPO, it runs about two dozen call centers around the country, excuse me, data centers.
And in the last decade, foreign auto makers have opened over two dozen assembly plants in the southern United States, bringing with them thousands of jobs. That astounding growth has other states revving up their efforts to recruit the likes of Mercedes, Toyota and Hyundai. As I wrap up my series, it's clear that not everyone believes Detroit south's boom-time.
