Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: That continuing merger activity kept Wall Street in an upbeat mood this morning, as did a smaller than expected 0.5 percent decline in May factory orders. An hour into trading, the Dow posted a 54-point gain and the NASDAQ Composite rose 11 points. While stocks held their early gains quite well for the rest of the shortened session, further upside progress was precluded by higher bond yields and higher oil prices. The Dow Industrial Average did close up 41.87 points though at 13,577.30. The NASDAQ gained 12.65 ending at 2,644.95. Standard & Poor's 500 was up 5.44, ending at 1524.87. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 13/32 to 95 26/32, lifting the yield just above 5 percent once again.
New York exchange volume leader on 16.7 million shares traded was Ford Motor Co (F) losing $0.22. As you heard, its June sales fell 8.1 percent on fewer rental car sales. Also Ford may take a $1.4 billion third quarter pre-tax expense related to an offer for its convertible preferred securities.
Then came General Electric (GE) up $0.44.
Pfizer (PFE) an $0.08 gainer.
AT&T (T) lost $0.35.
Discover Financial Services (DFS) off $0.83. Yesterday as we reported, Morgan Stanley completed the spin off of DFS.
EMC Corp (EMC) lost $0.16.
And then Kraft Foods (KFT) an $0.87 loss. As you heard, the company wants to buy Group Danone's global biscuit business for about $7.2 billion in cash.
LSI Corp (LSI) moving up $0.22.
Motorola (MOT) $0.04 gain.
Then ExxonMobil (XOM) gained $0.54.
Caterpillar (CAT) down $2.46. That loss cost the Dow Industrial Average about 19 points. UBS Financial downgraded Caterpillar from "neutral" to "reduce" and cut its price target from $78 down to $70 a share.
Alcan Aluminum (AL) up $1.40. The company has rejected Alcoa's hostile $28.6 billion takeover bid and refuses to open any friendly talks. Alcoa was up $0.41 at $41.50 a share.
And speaking of aluminum, the Aluminum Corp of China (ACH) up $5.14. Positive reaction there to its acquisition of Bactou Aluminum for almost $2 billion in ACH stock.
Continental Airlines (CAL) up $3.75. The company's June revenues were better than expected and Soleil Securities brokerage upgraded it from "hold" to "buy." As a matter of fact, the airline group is one of the stronger sectors today. Let's have a look at some of the majors.
AMR (AMR) up $1.30.
Fractional gains in Delta Air (DAL) and UAL Corp (UAUA).
US Airways Group (LCC) did well, up $2.16.
Wendy's Intl (WEN) gained $1. Wealthy investor Nelson Peltz tells the company's board its Triarc companies is a natural strategic buyer for Wendy's.
Bill Barrett (BBG), this is an oil and gas exploration company. Its stock will replace Laureate Education in the Standard & Poor's madcap 400 index after the close of trading this Friday.
Massey Energy (MEE) down $1.71. A jury has levied a $220 million damage award against the company in a lawsuit with Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel. Massey will appeal that award.
Western Alliance Bancorp (WAL) off $1.65. The company said loan (ph) losses will cut its second quarter earnings down to $0.24 to $0.26 from the first quarter, $0.39 per share. Wall Street was hoping for $0.42 a share.
NASDAQ's most active Apple (AAPL) $5.91 gain. iSuppli Research say the company's profit margins on the Iphone may top 55 percent.
Research in Motion (RIMM) down $6.32, profit taking after sharp recent gains.
Same story with Baidu.com (BIDU).
Google (GOOG) was up nearly $4.
And Microsoft (MSFT) a $0.28 gain.
Intel (INTC) $0.32 rise there.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) gained $0.21.
And Oracle (ORCL) as you heard earlier, up $0.15. And SAP incidentally was down $0.80 at $50.98.
Yahoo! (YHOO) a $0.14 gainer.
And Marvell Tech Group (MRVL) a $0.24 gain right there.
Movie Gallery (MOVI) lost 65 percent of its value after the company warned it's unable to meet loan covenants due to lower than expected sales because of though competition from Netflix and Blockbuster Entertainment.
And we did have a new issue today, Shoretel (SHOR), this is an Internet telecom company, 7.9 million shares offered to the public at $9.50, opened at $10 and the high of the day $13, closed much closer to the high, pretty good debut.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
