Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: More dismal data on the housing industry today: there were fewer sales contracts written in August than any month in the past six years. The National Association of Realtors says its index of pending home sales dropped 6.5 percent to a reading of 85.5 in August. The realtors blame the decline on lack of mortgage availability. Analysts say it's more evidence suggesting the housing sector still hasn't hit bottom. That August reading is the lowest since the trade group began tracking pending sales back in January of 2001. That news and profit taking after yesterday's record setting blue chip rally had Wall Street on the defensive this morning. At mid-session, the Dow posted a 46-point loss, while the NASDAQ was off only three points. Those disappointing September auto sales helped send the Dow down 70 points in early afternoon, but gains in the tech sector helped the blue chips regain some lost ground by the final bell. So the Dow Industrial Average closed off a modest 40.24 points at 14,047.31. The tech-laden NASDAQ Index gained 6.12, ending at 2747.11. Standard & Poor's 500 down just .41 at 1546.63. In the bond market, the 10-year note gained 6/32 to 101 25/32, putting the yield at 4.53 percent.
Big board volume leader on 16.8 million shares, Ford Motor Co (F) moving up $0.34 despite that 20.5 percent drop in September vehicle sales. Then came Pfizer (PFE) with a $0.09 gain.
Co Vale do Rio (RIO) down $0.69.
Walgreen Co (WAG) off another $0.08 after dropping over $7 yesterday on lower fourth quarter earnings. Today Merrill Lynch downgraded it from "buy" to "neutral," noting the company's rising expenses.
EMC Corp (EMC) was fifth in volume and gained $0.56 a share.
Citigroup (C) $0.14 rise. The company bought the one third of Japan's Nikko brokerage that it already didn't own for $4.6 billion.
Bank of America (BAC) rising $1.08. Goldman Sachs resumed coverage of the stock with a "buy" recommendation, citing the enormous unrealized equity gains in the company's investments, especially in China.
Commerce Bancorp (CBN) a $0.14 drop. Toronto Dominion bank will acquire Commerce for a deal worth $42 a share, $10.50 of that in cash, the rest in TD stock.
Then came USEC Inc (USU) down $0.52, traded as low as $8.29 on news that the Department of Energy rejected a $9.5 billion nuclear plant clean up contract on concern that the contract would have subsidized a company called Energy Solution Corp's acquisition of USEC. That would be unfair competition.
ExxonMobil (XOM) down $1.71. That whole group was a little on the weak side today as oil dipped a bit.
And speaking of major dips, Barrick Gold (ABX) down $1.98. Gold had a major dip, down $17.80 in New York on the December contract. OF course it hit a record 28-year high last Friday.
Let's have a look at some of the other gold that moved lower, Agnico Eagle (ATM), Anglogold Ashanti (AU), Freeport-McMoran C&G (FCX) and Meridian Gold (MDG), Randgold Resources (GOLD), all on the downside as gold took a little bit of a dive.
Hershey Co (HSY) down $1.63. The chairman and CEO Richard Lenny plans to retire at the end of this year.
And then Pepsi Bottling (PBG) up $0.78, traded as high as $38.93 today. Third quarter adjusted earnings $0.99 and that was $0.10 above the Street consensus.
Sony (SNE) up $1.76. The company's financial arm will go public on the Tokyo exchange on October 11th. That will raise $3 billion for Sony and boost its earnings pre-tax by this year by $670 million.
Valspar (VAL) down $1.28. The company sees lower than expected fourth quarter earnings in the range of $0.47 to $0.50. Wall Street's estimate was $0.60. The company cites the weak housing market.
Baidu.com (BIDU) topped the active list on NASDAQ for a change today, displacing Apple, but the stock up $35.77 on strong growth prospects as espoused by several analysts.
Apple (APPL) itself up $2.11.
Google (GOOG) gained $1.84.
But Garmin Ltd (GRMN) down another $7.13. It tumbled $12 yesterday. An analyst today said the company's competitive position will be badly undermined if Nokia's takeover of Navteq and Tom Tom's takeover of Tella (ph) Atlas succeed. So Garmin is expected to make a counter offer for one of those two rivals.
Research in Motion (RIMM) down $2.40 today.
Intel (INTC) a penny gain.
$0.02 rise in Cisco Systems (CSCO)
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.07 drop.
Qualcomm (QCOM) down $0.11.
And Akamai Tech (AKAM) was up $2.22.
ViaCell (VIAC), big gain, up 50 percent with that gain of $2.41. Perkin Elmer Corporation will acquire this company for $7.25 a share.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
