Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
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JEFF YASTINE: Investors were in a sour mood long before the Fed's beige book report hit the news today. The Dow dropped 190 points in the first two hours of trading. That thanks to the slide in July's pending home sales and then the beige book report released at 2:00 p.m. Eastern, became an excuse for more selling before a modest recovery into the final hour. So, the Dow closing off 143.39 at 13305.31 and then the NASDAQ Composite dropping 24.29 to 2605.95. And then the S&P 500 Index falling 17.13 to 1472.29. And then buyers flocked into the Treasury market, the yield on the five-year note hitting a near two-year low and the 10-year note climbing 21/32 to 102 7/32, pushing yield down to 4.47 percent, its lowest level since December of last year. Starting things off, Home Depot (HD) rising $0.15. CEO Frank Blake says Home Depot will continue to face tough headwind this year and next because of the real estate downturn and sub-prime lending woes. Pfizer (PFE) dropping $0.37. An eight-year study paid for by Pfizer claims patients who switched from Lipitor to Merck's generic cholesterol drug Zocor increased their chances of a heart attack.
Then General Electric (GE) down $0.29. NBC Universal and Apple's iTunes were unable to resolve a dispute over pricing, so NBC struck a deal with Amazon's download service instead.
And then Citigroup (C) falling $1.21. Today's "Wall Street Journal" highlighting worries about Citi's exposure to the commercial paper market. Citi says it has no credit worries on those affiliated investment deals. They're called SIVs.
Then Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) dropping $0.85. Analysts expecting modest growth of 1.6 percent when the retailer reports August sales tomorrow.
Then Time Warner (TWX) dropping a quarter.
Bank of America (BAC) losing $0.49.
EMC Corp (EMC) off $0.41.
Ford Motor Co (F) dropping $0.22.
AT&T (T) down a little over half a dollar.
Today's wider than expected 12 percent drop in pending home sales prompting investors to continue their exodus out of home building stocks. Centex (CTX), KB Home (KBH), Lennar (LEN), MDC Holdings (MDC), Ryland Group (RYL) all down on the day and reprobing the four-year lows set by the same stocks last week.
Altria Group (MO) down $1.04. Goldman Sachs downgrading the stock.
Then Forest Labs (FRX) rising $3.75. A Federal court upholding the firm's patent on its Lexapro antidepressant drug and it's helping to resolve a three-year patent lawsuit over that issue.
Chesapeake Energy (CHK) rising $1.07. The company will sell some production assets over the next two years, which it hopes will return about $3.5 billion back to the company. Natural gas prices are hovering near multi-year lows.
On the downside, Mastec (MTZ) sliding $2.40 on a profit warning. The telecom contractor hiring up to 1,500 new technicians and those extra training costs will hurt third quarter results.
Then poultry producer Tyson Foods (TSN) should I say, well OK, plucked for a loss of nearly $3. The company says higher grain prices, a disruption of beef exports to South Korea and higher pork prices will hurt full year results.
Now on to the NASDAQ, there's Apple (AAPL) losing over $7. Traders selling the news of Apple's new iPod touch. That was on double the normal volume.
Google (GOOG) rising over $2.
Then Cisco Systems (CSCO) slipping a fraction.
Intel (INTC) down $0.19.
Microsoft (MSFT) off $0.33.
baidu.com (BIDU) climbing nearly $3.
But Research in Motion (RIMM) off a little over $2.
Amgen (AMGN) gaining $0.98. The Senate has been asked or asked Medicare administrators to allow coverage of anti-anemia drugs Aranesp and Epogen account for about half of Amgen's sales.
Sandisk (SNDK) down a little over $2.
Costco Wholesale (COST) off $2.61. Same store sales came in less than analysts expected.
Then we have Cardica (CRDC) which soared $2.64, a huge move for the stock after surgeons successfully completed a heart bypass operation using its minimally invasive closed chest surgical system.
Applix (APLX) gaining over $3. It's being bought by Cognos, a business software maker for over $300 million in cash.
Then finally, OSI Systems (OSIS) tumbling $5. Profits were higher for its fiscal fourth quarter, but investors fled after the company forecast a first quarter loss because of seasonal factors related to its security and healthcare units.
