Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Friday, March 07, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: No rebound rally on Wall Street this morning after yesterday's sell off thanks to that downbeat employment report. Investors viewed the data as further evidence a recession is in the offing or already here. After a choppy morning, the Dow posted an 86-point loss at noon while the NASDAQ was off only three points. Struggling against new lows in the dollar, new highs in oil and the usual caution ahead of the weekend, the market ended the day broadly lower. The Dow Industrial Average closed down 146.70 points at 11,893.69.
This week, it rose only once and lost 372.70 points overall. The NASDAQ Composite dipped 8.01 ending at 2,212.49 today. It rose twice and fell three times this week, had a net loss of 58.99 points. Standard & Poor's 500 Index ended down 10.97 at 1,293.37 today and it lost 37.26 points overall for the week. In the bond market, the 10-year note gained 14/32 to 99 22/32, putting the yield at 3.54 percent.
Familiar name at the top of the big board active list, Citigroup (C) on 28.9 million shares topped it, losing $0.26. After the close yesterday as we reported, the company's going to scale back its mortgage operations over the next year. Then Washington Mutual (WM) down $1.05. "Wall Street Journal" reported the company's looking for capital and late today, Fitch said it's cutting the ratings on Washington Mutual from A minus to triple B and Fitch went on to say it may cut ratings on Bank of America and Citigroup as well.
GE (GE) moved down $0.63.
But Ambac Financial (ABK) up $2.08 on news the company priced its $1.1 billion offering of 171 million shares of common stock at $6.75 a share.
JPMmorgan Chase (JPM) was up $0.19, see some fractional gains in these hard-hit banks.
Wells Fargo (WFC) $0.28.
Pfizer (PFE) $0.24 loss.
Bank of America (BAC) gained $0.22.
SprintNextel (S) was up $0.21.
And then Annaly Cap Mort (NLY) closed down $0.81, but it traded a lot lower than that during the day, $13.59 low. Citigroup cut its price target on Annaly from $21 a share down to $18 a share.
Alcoa (AA) a big Dow stock, down $1.77 after the Friedman, Billings, Ramsey brokerage downgraded it from "out perform" to just a "market perform" rating.
Natl Semiconductor (NSM) up $1.91, nice move there. After the close yesterday as we reported, National Semi had a third quarter earnings of $0.28, up from $0.22 a year, a nickel above the Wall Street estimate.
American Axle (AXL) gaining $2.13. Keybanc brokerage boosted earnings estimates and repeated an "aggressive buy" in the belief that 100 percent of the 3650 UAW workers on strike will take either a buyout or a buy down package resulting in a sharp cut in labor cuts for American Axle.
Rock-Tenn (RKT), a packaging firm, up $1.94. JPMorgan upgraded it from "neutral" to "over weight" today.
And then we see Rockwood Holdings (ROC), a chemical firm, up $1.85. Altana AG, German firm reportedly in talks to acquire the company. Standard & Poor's repeated a "buy" on the stock.
A major melt down in Reddy Ice Holdings (FRZ) tumbling $7.73. The company said Federal officials from the Justice Department executed a search warrant at the company's Dallas corporate office. The company is cooperating and it's going to conduct its own internal probe, but gave no specifics.
Elsewhere, PNM Resources (PNM) down $2.08. The New Mexico public regulation commission recommended a 4.4 percent rate increase but that's only one third of what the company requested. Lehman cut its price target on PNM from $16 to $14 a share, rates it an "equal weight."
Apple (AAPL) topped the NASDAQ actives, up $1.32.
Google (GOOG) $0.65 gain.
$0.12 rise in Research in Motion (RIMM).
Microsoft (MSFT) edged up $0.30.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.17 gain there.
Baidu.com (BIDU) up $0.51.
Intel (INTC) edged up $0.20.
First Solar (FSLR) down $11.95.
Oracle (ORCL) a $0.23 loss.
And then Yahoo! (YHOO) a $0.33 gain.
Smith & Wesson Holdings (SWHC) edging up $0.67, almost a 16 percent gain. The company posted a third quarter loss of $0.04, but the Street was expecting a loss of $0.06.
And finally tonight, shares of communications equipment maker Ciena (CIEN) rising $2.86 on fiscal first quarter earnings of $0.47 a share, up from $0.22 a year ago and that was $0.08 above analyst estimates. The company predicts 2008 revenue growth of as much as 27 percent.
And those are our stocks in the news tonight.
