Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
|
|
|
|
PAUL KANGAS: Stocks on Wall Street opened broadly lower today as investors reacted to comments made by Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke last night. Details and analysis of his speech coming right up. An hour into trading, the Dow was off 94 points and the NASDAQ Composite down 20. Bargain hunters helped stocks trim their losses a bit this afternoon, but another surge in oil prices to record highs and caution ahead of the post-close results from Intel and IBM kept the market from staging any significant rally. So the Dow Industrial Average closed down 71.86 points at 13,912.94. The NASDAQ Composite lost 16.14 ending at 2,763.91 while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was off 10.18 points at 1,538.53. In the bond market, the 10-year note rose 7/32 to par and 25/32, putting the yield at 4.65 percent.
Most active big board issue on 19.3 million shares was Citigroup (C) losing another $1.45, yesterday was down $1.63 after reporting a 57 percent drop in its third quarter earnings. Pfizer (PFE) a $0.37 loss there.
Ford Motor Co (F) down $0.21.
Wells Fargo (WPC) down $1.40. The company in with third quarter earnings slightly higher, $0.68 versus $0.64 a year ago, but $0.02 below the Street consensus and the company boosted its (INAUDIBLE) provision from $613 million last year to $892 million this year.
General Electric (GE) in there with a nickel loss.
Then came Bank of America (BAC) in the weak financial sector, down $1.22.
EMC Corp (EMC) fell $0.29.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) off $1.16.
Co Vale do Rio (RIO) down $0.97.
And completing this blizzard of minus signs, Motorola (MOT) with an $0.18 loss.
IBM (IBM) had a gain of $1.57. After the close, big blue had third quarter earnings out, $1.68, up from $1.45 a year ago. That was only a penny above the Street estimate and in after hours trading, the stock was down around $118 a share, so it weakened.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) closed down $0.58. Third quarter earnings were lower, $0.88 versus $0.94 a year ago, but excluding one-time items, it came in at $1.06. That was $0.07 above the Wall Street consensus.
General Motors (GM) down $1.70. Bear Stearns downgraded it from "peer perform" to "under perform" in the belief the UAW contract will benefit the company less than originally expected. BSC, that's Bear Stearns, recommended switching to Ford stock out of GM.
And speaking of Bear Stearns Cos (BSC), it was up $2.36. Reportedly, China CITIC bank is interested in buying a stake in Bear Stearns stock.
State Street (STT) up $5.75. Third quarter earnings excluding one- time items $1.15, $0.21 better than the Street expected. Revenues shot up 48 percent. Standard & Poor's upgraded it from "hold" to a "buy."
And then Robbins & Myers (RBN) up $11.05. The engineering design company had fourth quarter earnings of $1.05, way up, some $0.64 last year. Revenues rose 13 percent over last year.
And Scpie Holdings (SKP), yes, it's pronounced "Skippy." It's an acronym for Southern California Physicians Insurance Exchange and Doctors Company will buy this firm out for $28 a share cash, nice big move.
And Dominos Pizza (DPZ) falling flat, down $2.27. Third quarter earnings fell to $0.17 from $0.39 a year ago on a 1.6 percent drop in U.S. same store sales.
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list on NASDAQ, up $2.60. Quarterly earnings from Apple due out next Monday.
Google (GOOG) down $4.11.
Then baidu.com (BIDU) on profit taking, down $7.47.
Intel (INTC) closed down $0.27, but as you heard, after the close, third quarter earnings $0.31 where, a penny better than expected, but the stock in after hours trading moved up $26.75.
Research in Motion (RIMM) was up $0.38.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.28 gain there.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) lost a half dollar.
LM Ericsson (ERIC) plunging $9.60. The company's third quarter operating earnings fell 36 percent from last year and even that was below expectations.
Yahoo! (YHOO) closed down $1.17. After the close, third quarter earnings from Yahoo!, $0.11. That was $0.03 above the Street estimate. In after hours trading, I saw that stock as high as $29.25 a share.
And finally, shares in Dryships (DRYS) backed off from yesterday's 52- week high today closing down $8.27.
