Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
|
|
|
|
PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street opened higher, led by the tech sector on the better-than-expected earnings posted after the bell yesterday by Intel and Yahoo! An hour into trading, the Dow was up 47 points and the NASDAQ rose 33. The rally stalled as oil prices surged to $89 per barrel after the Turkish parliament voted in favor of ordering an attack on Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. Weakness in IBM and United Tech stocks further undermined the Dow as it slid to a 133-point loss at 2 p.m. But then strength in the tech stocks led a late comeback. The Dow Jones Industrial Average cut its closing loss to just 20.40 points at 13,892.54. The tech- laden NASDAQ gained 28.76 points, ending at 2,792.67. Standard & Poor's 500 up 2.71 at 1,541.24. The bond market, 10-year note climbed 25/32 to 101 17/32, lowering the yield to 4.56 percent.
For the third day running, volume leader on the big board today on 30.4 million shares was Citigroup (C) down $0.13. The company denied a rumor making the rounds that Chief Executive Charles Prince will soon step down, denied that. General Electric (GE) $0.23 gain.
Ford Motor Co (F) dropped $0.09.
Then came JPMorgan Chase (JPM) up $1.26 on higher third quarter operating earnings of $0.97 versus $0.92 last year and that was $0.07 above the Street consensus.
Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) lost $0.28 a share.
Then Pfizer (PFE) down $0.08.
Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) up $0.13.
Co vale do Rio (RIO) $0.43 gain there.
Bank of America (BAC) a $0.17 drop.
ExxonMobil (XOM) a $0.06 gainer.
United Tech (UTX) hurt the Dow with that loss of $2.85. Third quarter earnings were up 20 percent at $1.21 versus $0.99 last year, $0.05 above the Street estimate, but the company's outlook was disappointing and that brought on some selling.
IBM (IBM) down $3.82. After the close yesterday as we reported, third quarter earnings came in at $1.68, a penny above the Street estimate, but Standard & Poor's today noted that both software and hardware sales for big blue were below expectations.
Look at these Chinese stocks and these are the five biggest percentage gainers of all the New York Stock Exchange stocks today. They dominated the list of percentage gainers. There is speculation mainland Chinese investors may soon be able to trade these stocks on the Hong Kong as well as the Taiwan exchanges, big gains all the way along. Sinopec (SHI)
China Petroleum (SNP)
Petrochina ADR (PTR
Yanzhou ADR (VZC)
Guangshen Railway (GSH)
CSX (CSX), the big rail, up $2.51. Third quarter earnings, $0.91, up from $0.71 last year and 3 percent rise in revenue. Standard & Poor's upgraded CSX from "hold" to "buy."
MGIC Investment (MTG), the mortgage lender, third quarter loss of $4.60 versus earnings last year. Of course, the tough mortgage lender market hurting stocks like MGIC as well as Thornburg Mortgage (TMA) down $1.36 there. Thornburg's third quarter loss, $8.83, versus $0.64 in earnings last year. The company will not declare a third quarter dividend.
Champion Enterprises (CHB), which makes prefab houses, up $1.22. Third quarter earnings higher, $0.17 versus $0.12 a year ago, $0.03 better than expected on Wall Street.
Piper Jaffray Co (PJC), the retail broker down $2.73. Third quarter earnings fell to $0.28 from $0.50 a year ago. Revenue dropped 20 percent.
Amphenol (APH), which makes electrical components, $3.01 gain. Third quarter earnings jumped to $0.50 from $0.39 last year. Sales up 15 percent. Standard & Poor's repeated a "buy" on that stock.
And Manpower (MAN), the temporary work company, up $4.66. Third quarter earnings jumped to $1.57 from $1.16 last year. Revenues were up 15 percent.
Apple (AAPL) topped NASDAQ's most active list, up $3.17 at an all-time closing high.
Then Intel (INTC) $1.21 gain. After the close yesterday as we reported, Intel's third quarter earnings came in at $0.31, a penny above the Street estimate.
Google (GOOG) doing well, up $17.48.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.76 gain.
Baidu.com (BIDU), another strong Chinese-related stock, up $8.72.
Research in Motion (RIMM) gained $1.14.
Yahoo! (YHOO)
up $2.13. After the close yesterday as we reported, third quarter earnings came in at $0.11, $0.03 above the Street estimate.
Then Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.17 rise.
Ebay (EBAY) closed up $2 a share. After the close today, it reported a third quarter loss of $0.69 versus earnings of $0.20 last year, but there's little change in the stock in after hours trading.
Tenth in volume was Oracle (ORCL) losing $0.26 a share.
And finally, we have a new issue. Trans-1 (TSON) surging $9. There were 5.5 million shares offered at $15. This company makes products to relieve back pain. The stock opened at $25.01, traded as high as $26.
