Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Stocks on Wall Street began the day with modest gains as cautious buyers looked for bargains. An hour into trading, the Dow posted a 53 point gain, with the NASDAQ up 21 points. The upturn failed to gain a following, especially as gold surged to a record high $880 an ounce. So, by 1:00 p.m., the Dow was off 55 points. Another rally attempt was quashed after those cautious comments from AT&T raised recession fears and sent stocks into free fall. The Dow Industrial Average tumbled 238.42 points, ending at 12,589.07. The NASDAQ Composite fell 58.95 to 2440.51, its eighth straight loss. Standard & Poor's 500 lost 25.99 ending at 1300.19. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note gained 12/32 to 103 24/32, putting the yield at 3.79 percent.
Once again topping the active list today on 32.3 million shares, Citigroup (C) down $1.14. That's the lowest close for the stock since October 2002. Today, Merrill Lynch reportedly boosted Citi's fourth quarter loss estimate, sees a potential write down of up to $16 billion. Then Countrywide Financial (CFC) down $2.09. You heard a lot of news earlier, but in addition, the "New York Times" reported the company fabricated documents regarding a Pennsylvania homeowner's bankruptcy case. Analysts say that raises questions about CFC's business practices. But the news surrounding it had a very impact on mortgage-related stocks. Let's look at some of the majors.
Ambac Financial (ABK), Fannie Mae (FNM), MBIA (MBI) and MGIC Investment Corp (MIG) all major losers on the day.
Then AT&T (T) down $1.96. As you heard, the company's consumer business appears to be softening and that hurt the market.
General Electric (GE) $0.80 drop there.
Bank of America (BAC) off $1.49 in the weak financial group.
Pfizer (PFE) bucking the trend, up $0.23. Drug stocks defensive and that's what they're going for.
EMC Corp (EMC) up $0.04.
Ford Motor Co (F) down $0.03.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) off $1.72. Merrill Lynch cut its earnings estimate for the fourth quarter from $1.04 down to $0.94 a share.
And Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) in the weak high-tech sector, down $2.28.
The gold stocks were the stars of the day. We see Agnico Eagle (AEM) up $2.20.
Anglogold Ashanti (AU), Barrick Gold (ABK), Gold Fields Ltd (GFI) and Newmont Mining (NEM) all doing very well. Gold hit a record high $880.30 on the February contracts.
MetroPCS Communications (PCS) up $1.06. Soleil Securities upgraded it from "hold" to "buy" and made a nice move upward.
And then RPM Intl (RPM), the specialty chemicals firm, out with second quarter earnings, $0.43, a penny better than last year and $0.06 higher than the Street expected. Also the board of governors plans a stock buyback program. Standard & Poor's repeated a "buy" recommendation.
Eli Lilly (LLY) up $1.55 on the strong and defensive drug group. Yesterday that stock was up $2.75 on a Morgan Stanley upgrade. Today the FDA OK'd its Cialis erectile dysfunction drug for daily use.
Supervalu (SVU), the big drug store, not I should say - super store - grocery store chain, down $5.73. Third quarter earnings higher, $0.66 versus $0.54 last year, but the company cut its full year estimates guidance from about $2.78 down to $2.74 a share. Standard & Poor's downgraded the stock from "buy" to "hold."
Greenbrier Co (GBX), which makes railroad cars, off $2.53. First quarter earnings higher, $0.16 versus $0.12, but the company sees 2008 earnings lower than 2007's which were $2.22 a share.
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list, down $6.39.
And Google (GOOG) didn't escape the selling, off $17.57 a share.
Research in Motion (RIMM) down $3.39.
Microsoft (MSFT) $1.16 loss.
Bucking the trend slightly, Baidu.com (BIDU) up $0.90 a share.
Intel (INTC) $0.62 loss.
$0.70 drop in Cisco Systems (CSCO).
Starbucks (SBUX) up $1.48. Positive reaction to founder Howard Shultz resuming as the CEO of the company.
Amazon.com (AMZN) $0.94 loss.
And then First Solar (FSLR) down $6.34.
And finally, shares in MFB Corp (MFBC) surged $7.64 on news it is being acquired by Mutual First Financial for $41 per share in cash or stock or a combination of them.
