Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Friday, December 21, 2007
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PAUL KANGAS: Super-bullish was the mood on Wall Street as stocks opened sharply higher this morning on a strong rise in November consumer spending. Adding to the gains, that successful Fed auction, Research in Motion's big earnings out last night and a possible big cash infusion for Merrill Lynch from Singapore. Today was also quadruple witching. That's the simultaneous expiration of stock index futures and stock options which boosted trading volume. By noon the Dow was up 175 points. NASDAQ rose 35. The market shrugged off a sharp rise in oil futures as buyers dominated for the rest of the day and the market ended near its very best level. The Dow climbed 205.01 points to 13,450.65. This week, the Index rose in three out of the five last sessions for an overall gain of 110.80 points. Today, the NASDAQ Composite advanced 51.13 ending at 2691.99. That index fell only once this week, had an overall gain of 56 1/4 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index jumped 24.34 points today to end at 1484.46 and that helped the Index log an overall advance to the week of 16.51. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 31/32 to par and 20/32, putting the yield at 4.17 percent.
Most active big board issue on a very active 46.7 million shares, General Electric (GE) moving up $0.62.
Citigroup (C) in there second, first time in eight sessions it hasn't topped the active list, up $0.31 today.
Then Pfizer (PFE) a $0.02 gain.
ExxonMobil (XOM) on the sharp rise in oil futures, up $1.30.
AT&T (T) had a good day, rising $1.22.
Time Warner (TWX) edged up $0.25.
Bank of America (BAC) $0.51 gain.
No change in Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) or Ford Motor Co (F).
Wachovia (WA) was an $0.84 gainer.
Merrill Lynch (MER) moved up $1.04. The "Wall Street Journal" reported that the company may get a $5 billion capital infusion from a Singapore state investor. The stock did well on that news.
Bear Stearns (BSC) however, down $1.47. Moody's downgraded the company's long-term debt rating from A1 to A2.
First Marblehead (FMD), which is in the student loan business, had a huge gain today, up 66 percent. Goldman Sachs said it's going to invest up to $260 million for a 20 percent stake in First Marblehead.
Circuit City Stores (CC) had a rough day, down $1.91. Third quarter loss of $1.26 reported and the Street was looking for a loss of only $0.31. Sales fell 3.1 percent in the period and the company said it may also have a fourth quarter loss.
Walgreen Co (WAG) on the other hand, up $2.22. First quarter earnings, $0.46 up from $0.43 a year ago, $0.02 above the Street estimate. Same store sales rose 5.4 percent.
Jabil Circuit (JBL) dropping nearly $4 a share. After the close yesterday, first quarter earnings were higher, $0.30 versus $0.20 a year ago, but the company sees second quarter of maybe only $0.01 in earnings, up to a $0.03 per share loss. Today, Standard & Poor's downgraded it from "hold" to a "sell."
Red Hat (RHT) moved up $1.92. Third quarter earnings, $0.10, up from $0.07 a year ago. Revenues jumped 28 percent.
And Fremont General (FMT) doing well, up $1.30 on news the FDIC and California regulators have approved the company's new management team.
Brush Engineered Material (BW) down $1.15, traded as low as $33.57 today. The company said it's experiencing softer than expected demand for a variety of its products.
Ennis Business Forms (EBF) up $1.68. Third quarter earnings rose 7 percent from last year, $0.45, up from $0.42 then and revenues jumped 43 percent.
NASDAQ's most active, Research in Motion (RIMM) up $11.64. It traded as high as $122.16. After the close yesterday, as we reported, third quarter earnings more than doubled to $0.65 versus $0.31 last year. That was $0.03 above the Street estimate. Today, Bear Stearns upgraded it from "peer perform" to "out perform."
Apple (AAPL) up $6.70.
Google (GOOG) exactly a $7 rise.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.54 gain there.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) edged up $0.32 a share. First Solar (FSLR), look at that gain, up $20.80 and it's a very volatile stock as we know.
Intel (INTC) with a $0.55 gain.
Oracle (ORCL) moved up $0.61 after reporting good earnings this week.
Baidu.com (BIDU) $0.30 advance.
And then tenth in volume, Dell (DELL) down a penny a share.
Respironics (RESP) up $12.21 on news Phillips Electronics is bidding $66 a share to buy out the company.
Then we have Golden Telecom (GLDN) rising $2.93. Vimpel (ph) Communications will acquire this company for $105 a share.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
