Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street's bears had plenty to feed on this morning, including that dim housing industry outlook, and the latest on productivity and labor costs, all topped off by that rate hike by the European Central Bank. With few upticks, the Dow fell 122 points by noontime, and the NASDAQ Index was off 27 points.
Growing concerns over higher inflation and interest rates sent the Dow off as much as 150 points this afternoon before a late but very mild recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed off 129.79 points, at 13,465.67. The NASDAQ Composite fell 24.05 to 2,587.18. Standard & Poor's 500 Index down 13.57, ending at 1,517.38. In the bond market, the 10-year note rose 6/32, to 96 1/32, putting the yield at 4.97 percent.
For the second straight day, Pfizer (PFE) topped the Big Board's active list today, trading 20.8 million shares. The stock down $0.49.
Followed by GE (GE), $0.11 loss there.
IBM (IBM) in the weak blue chip sector down $3.43, the biggest dollar loser.
Let's have a look at some other big dollar losers in the Dow. American Express (AXP), Boeing (BA), and DuPont (DD) all down substantially.
Then we see Exxon Mobil (XOM) losing $0.64.
Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) in there with a $0.23 gain, bucking the trend. The company's Sam's Club division settled a dispute over allegations it was selling counterfeit Fendi bags. Sam's will pay the Italian fashion designer Fendi a confidential settlement. It did not mention the amount.
Micron Technology (MU) fell $0.21.
Then Kraft Foods (KFT) down a dime.
Time Warner (TWX) fell $0.33.
Sprint Nextel (S) losing $0.26.
And then EMC (EMC), a $0.07 loss.
Guess? Incorporated (GES) bucking the trend with $1.80 gain. The apparel retailer had first-quarter earnings up 72 percent over last year, $0.38 versus $0.23 then. And that was $0.10 better than the Street consensus. Revenues jumped up 42 percent. And on top of that, the company boosted its 2008 earnings outlook. Pretty good combination, nice gain on a day like this.
Russ Berrie Incorporated (RUS) up $1.05. The company retails stuffed animals and gift items. And said it has received an unsolicited $18 a share takeover offer. But says that undervalues the firm's worth.
Johnson Controls (JCI), a $4.31 rise. Yesterday, the company held an upbeat meeting with analysts and today Credit Suisse brokerage upgraded it from neutral to an outperform rating.
Borders Group (BGP) down nearly $1. Goldman Sachs downgraded it from neutral to sell on the belief that any merger for Borders Group is highly unlikely.
Tata Motors Limited (TTM), an $0.83 loss there. Standard & Poor's downgraded it from buy to hold, citing an unexpected 4 percent drop in vehicle sales.
Moody's (MCO) on the upside by $0.37. Morgan Stanley upgraded it from equal weight to overweight because of the company's positive growth outlook.
And another nice gain here by TAL International Group (TAL), up $1.89. The freight container leasing firm has retained Citigroup to explore strategic alternatives, including the possible sale of the company. The Jefferies brokerage has a price target on the stock of $35 a share.
Apple (AAPL) topped the NASDAQ most active list with a gain of $0.97.
Followed by Google (GOOG), coming down $0.59 from a record high close yesterday.
Intel (INTC), a $0.47 drop.
Microsoft (MSFT), a $0.29 loss there.
Amazon.com (AMZN) dropped $1.36.
Cisco (CSCO), a $0.60 drop.
Yahoo! (YHOO) fell $0.79.
And then E*TRADE Financial (ETFC), bucking the trend nicely, up $1.73. Some hedge funds are urging TD Ameritade (AMTD) to merge with one of its rivals, like E*TRADE or perhaps Charles Schwab (SCHW).
Research In Motion (RIMM) down $3.49.
And then Qualcomm (QCOM), a $0.26 loss there.
Panera Bread (PNRA) tumbling $8.04. Disappointing sales have prompted the company to cut second-quarter earnings outlook from as high $0.51 a share to as low as $0.38. The Street expecting $0.49 a share.
And finally Towerstream (TWER), which markets high-speed Internet access to businesses, fell $1.92, or nearly 33 percent, on news it plans to sell 10 million shares at $4 each to private investors.
