Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Friday, September 14, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street's started the day reacting to news from overseas as the Bank of England moved to bail out a major British mortgage banker. The news sent U.S. blue chips tumbling more than 100 points at the outset of trading. Also troubling investors was word that a Goldman Sachs hedge fund had lost 22 percent last month. But stocks made a quick comeback on that report of a rise in consumer sentiment. The noontime reading on the Dow was a six-point gain and the NASDAQ was off only one point. As oil prices eased, the market edged higher this afternoon and ended with modest gains. The Dow Industrial Average closed up 17.64 at 13,442.52. This week, it rose in four of the five sessions for a net advance of 329.14 points. That's 2.5 percent. The NASDAQ Composite gained 1.12 to 2,602.18 today. It fell twice and rose three times this week, had a net advance of 36.48 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index edged up .30, ending at 1,484.25 today, and for the week overall, it was up 30.70 points. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note rose 2/32 to 102 10/32, putting the yield at 4.46 percent.
Most active New York exchange issue on 15.2 million shares, Pfizer (PFE) moving up $0.06. Followed by General Electric (GE) with a $0.16 loss.
Then Countrywide Financial (CFC) up another $0.49. Yesterday it was up $2.31 after the company got $12 billion in additional borrowing capacity.
Ford Motor Co (F) edging up $0.11.
Citigroup (C) a $0.28 gain.
Time Warner (TWX) down $0.36.
General Motors (GM) up $0.93. As you heard, contract talks with the UAW coming down to the wire at midnight tonight.
ExxonMobil (XOM) edged up a nickel a share.
Co Vale do Rio (RIO) was a $0.25.
And then Bank of America (BAC) gained $0.09. The Federal Reserve has given the Bank of America a final approval to acquire Lasalle Bank for $21 billion from ABN Amro.
American Express (AXP) a Dow stock, off $1.66 after Merrill Lynch downgraded it from "buy" to "neutral" on concern about the slowdown in consumer spending. Merrill cuts its 2008 earnings estimate for AXP from $3.96 a share down to $3.85 a share.
Monsanto (MON) moved up $1.13. The company is in a cross licensing pact with a subsidiary of Dow Chemical and they will launch SmartStax, which is an improved variety of corn.
Cadbury Schwepps (CSG) down $0.97. The "Financial Times" reports the company turned a second offer of about $14 billion for its drink operations. The private equity group wanted Cadbury to finance one third of the deal and apparently that's what quashed it.
Aegean Marine Petroleum (ANW), this is a company that supplies fuel to ships at sea and Jeffries brokerage started coverage of the stock with a "buy" with a $42 a share price target.
Tween Brands (TWB), this is a girls' apparel retailer. It's going to buy back up to $175 million of its own stock and it boosted its third quarter earnings guidance from $0.45 at best to $0.47 at best.
Alaska Air Group (ALK) gained $1.39 on news the company will buy back up to $100 million of its own stock.
And then the Triumph Group (TGI) which is an aircraft components firm got an upgrade from Bank America from "neutral" to "buy."
First Acceptance (FAC) plunging $2.70 or almost 35 percent. The company reported a fourth quarter loss of $0.50 a share versus earnings of $0.30 a year ago as an increase in the auto insurer's loss exposure offset a 23 rise in its revenues.
And then John Wiley & Sons (JWA) up $2.31. Stifel Nicholas brokerage upgraded the publisher's stock from "hold" to a "buy."
Apple (AAPL) topped NASDAQ's most actives, gaining $1.61.
Followed by Intel (INTC) down $0.42. Merrill Lynch downgraded Intel from "buy" to "neutral" on valuation, sees little upside for the stock.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up $1.52.
Google (GOOG) did well, up nearly $4 a share.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) edged up just a nickel a share.
Microsoft (MSFT) down $0.12.
Qualcomm (QCOM) $0.26 gain.
Oracle (ORCL) down $0.38.
Yahoo! (YHOO) gained $1.01.
And then Sandisk (SNDK) was up $1.30 a share. The company's CEO and the company itself got subpoenaed from the Department of Justice for an alleged price fixing problem in the flash memory chip market.
ImClone (IMCL) up $4.46. The Friedman, Billings, Ramsey brokerage cut its price target from $64 all the way down to $45 a share in the belief that the company's Erbitux sales will be lower than expected.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
