Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: That batch of mergers and acquisitions, along with the increase in May consumer confidence, had Wall Street in rally mode early on today. The Dow posted a 53-point gain at 10:00 a.m., while the NASDAQ Composite was up 16 points. News that China raised its tax on share trades to cool its soaring equity markets set off an afternoon slump in the blue chips here. But a sharp drop in oil prices and a strong tech sector helped stocks to rebound with a positive close. The Dow ended with a gain of 14.06 at 13,521.34. The NASDAQ Composite was up 14.87 ending at 2572.06. Standard & Poor's 500 Index closed up 2.38 points at 1518.11. In the bond market, the 10-year note fell 5/32 to 96 31/32, putting the yield at 4.89 percent.
Most active big board issue on 18.3 million shares, Avaya (AV), the big communications firm, up $2.09, big move. "Wall Street Journal" today reported that Avaya's in talks to sell all or part of it and mentioned as potential suitors are Silverlake Partners, Nortel, some say even Cisco is interested. General Electric (GE) $0.16 drop.
Pfizer (PFE) moved up $0.03.
Time Warner (TWX) a $0.02 loss.
Then Archstone-Smith (ASN) up $6.19. Friday that stock was up $4.10 on speculation that we reported Tishman's Speyer might make a buyout bid and as you heard, today the company agreed to sell itself to Tischman Speyer for $60.75 a share in cash. Now that news had a buyout impact on a lot of the REITs, real estate investment trusts. Let's have a look at a group of them.
Apt Invest/Mgmt Co (AIV), Avalonbay Comm (AVS), BRE Properties (BRE), Camden Property (CPT) and Equity Residential (EQR) all sizable gains.
ExxonMobil (XOM) down $0.89 as oil prices fell sharply this afternoon.
EMC Corp (EMC) a $0.02 gainer.
Ford Motor Co (F) moved up, moved down I should say $0.05.
And then Taiwan Semi (TSM) $0.16 gain. And Micron Tech (MU) dropped $0.01 per share. Disney (DIS) down $0.44 despite as you heard those record long holiday weekend box office sales for its latest "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie, not much of an impact on the stocks today. Alcan (AL) moved up $1, traded as high as $87.11. Canada's Globe & Mail online website reported the big Norwegian firm Norsk Hydro is preparing a $30 billion buyout bid. Others say Rio Tinto is a likely bidder for Alcan. Advanced Medical Optics (EYE) down $5.51. The company is recalling its complete moisture plus contact lens solution on concern it may cause some serious eye ailments.
Bradley Pharmaceuticals (BDY) up $3.91. The company's chief executive officer is bidding $21.50 a share with his investment group to take the company private.
And then we see Washington Group Intl (WNG) up $15.07. As you heard, URS Corp will acquire it for stock and cash today worth $81.70, $43.80 of that is in cash and the rest is in URS stock, .77 shares per Washington share.
NASDAQ's most active, Apple (AAPL) up $0.73.
Followed by Google (GOOG) up $3.59. Google today confirmed the Federal Trade Commission is expanding its probe into the company's $3 billion buyout bid for Doubleclick.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.31 gain there.
Qualcomm (QCOM) up $0.93. Incidentally Qualcomm said the court ruled against it in three patent suits brought by Broadcom.
Intel (INTC) was fifth in volume, up $0.14.
Then Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.38 gain.
Research in Motion (RIMM) down $1.01.
Amazon.com (AMZN) gained $1.08.
Oracle (ORCL) $0.07 rise.
And Medimmune (MEDI) was up $0.37 a share.
CDW Corp (CDWC) up $7.55. It's in talks to sell out to Madison Dearborn partners according to the "Wall Street Journal."
And then CT Communications (CTCI), look at that gain, $9.81. Windstream Corp will acquire this company for $31.50 a share in cash.
And then Peru Copper (CUP) on the American exchange losing a large percentage. Talks with a potential suitor ended without any agreement, disappointing performance in that stock. Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
