Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Thursday, May 03, 2007
|
|
|
|
PAUL KANGAS: Blue chip stocks extended their climb into record high ground this morning, aided by a better than expected 1.7 percent rise in first quarter U.S. productivity, while unit labor costs remained in check. At noon the Dow posted a 25- point gain and the NASDAQ Composite was up 10 points. The market eased on profit taking in early afternoon, but then rebounded on optimism over tomorrow's April employment report. The Dow Industrial Average closed up 29.50 points exactly at 13,241.38, as you heard, its third straight record high. The NASDAQ Composite up 7.62 ending at 2565.46. Standard & Poor's 500 Index up 6.47 at 1502.39, its highest level as you heard in almost seven year. In the bond market, the 10-year note fell 7/32 to 99 19/32, putting the yield at 4.68 percent.
New York exchange volume leader on 16.6 million shares, Pfizer (PFE) moving up $0.27.
Followed by Verizon Communications (VZ) up $1.47, nice move there on news that Cablevision's quarterly results showed it is losing customers to Verizon's new video and Internet service.
Motorola (MOT) up $0.17.
General Electric (GE) $0.03 gainer.
AT&T (T) was up $0.22.
General Motors (GM) down $1.75. As you heard, first quarter earnings plunged 90 percent and on top of that today, Standard & Poor's downgraded GM from "hold" to a "sell."
LSI Corp (LSI) up $0.15.
Kraft Foods (KFT) $0.45 drop.
Sprint Nextel (S) was up $0.12.
And Coeur d'Alene Mines (CDE) a $0.15 loss. The company's going to buy two Mexican mining companies, (INAUDIBLE) Gold and (INAUDIBLE) silver for 271 million shares of Coeur d'Alene stock. That'll make Coeur d'Alene the world's leading silver producer.
We have two new issues today and they're both Chinese. First we had Qiao Xing Mobile Comm (QXM), maker of mobile phone handsets and it had 13.3 million shares offered at 12, opened there. The high of the day $12.45 and then it slipped back below the offering price.
Acorn Intl (ATV) came public. The story on this one is that it is a Chinese television home shopping company, 7.7 million American depository shares offered at $15.50, opened at $19.98. The high of the day $22.70, backed off a bit, but still a very nice debut for Acorn.
Hanson Plc (HAN), this is the big English building materials firm, up nicely after Heidelberg Cement of Germany said it's considering a buyout bid.
OM Group (OMG) a $6.10 gain. First quarter earnings jumped to $3.85 from only $0.62 a year ago. Sales were up 52 percent. The company cited very strong rise in cobalt prices.
Unum Group (UNM), the insurance company, up $2.41. After the close yesterday, first quarter earnings $0.50, up from $0.40 a year ago and that was a nickel better than Wall Street was expecting.
Lyondell Chemical (LYO) up $2.74. JPMorgan upgraded it from "neutral" to over weight."
On the downside, Officemax (OMX) plunging $7.67. First quarter earnings excluding one-time items, $0.77, same as last year. The Street was expecting $0.93.
Then Estee Lauder (EL) down $3.70. Third quarter earnings rose 58 percent to $0.45, but that was a penny below the Street estimate, no room for disappointment.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.36 gain, topped the active list on NASDAQ.
Apple (AAPL) edged up a penny.
Google (GOOG) up $7.45.
Intel (INTC) fell $0.08.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a $0.03 gain.
Then we see Monster Worldwide (MNST), of course this is the job search company and it's up on takeover speculation, nothing specific.
Amgen (AMGN) down $1.16.
Amazon.com (AMZN) moved up $1.01.
Symantec (SYMC) was up $0.88. Fourth quarter earnings $0.24, down from $0.26 a year ago, but $0.04 better than the Street expected.
Medimmune (MEDI) down $0.22.
Hansen Medical (HNSN) moving up $3.71. The company received FDA approval for its catheter control system and got that approval sooner than expected.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
