Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Monday, March 10, 2008
|
|
|
|
PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street's blue chips showed no signs of a rebound today as Friday's weak employment report continued to dog the market, a depressed financial sector leading the way lower. The Dow was off 73 points by noon and NASDAQ down 19. Market rumors that Bear Stearns was having liquidity problems combined with Morgan Stanley's cautious comments about big-cap U.S. banks to keep the pressure on the blue chips and another surge in oil prices kept stocks broadly lower throughout the day and to the close as well. Dow Industrial Average ended off 153.54 points at 11,740.15. The NASDAQ Composite fell 43.15 to 2169.34, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost exactly 20.00 points to close at 1273.37. (
Once again at the top of the activity board was Citigroup (C) trading 36.1 million shares, stock down to a new 10-year low, off $1.22. Morgan Stanley said it's cautious about the large U.S. banks and cut its Citigroup earnings estimate as well as its price target from $22 down to $20 a share. Then came General Electric (GE) down $0.53.
Ford Motor Co (F) an $0.18 loss.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) down $1.08. Morgan Stanley was also cautious about JPMorgan and the Bank of America (BAC) which fell $1.43.
Washington Mutual (WM) $0.67 loss.
Wachovia (WS) another weak bank, down $1.03.
Pfizer (PFE) fell $0.20.
Fannie Mae (FNM) down $2.96. This week's "Barron's" financial magazine had an article that says the company's solvency could be severely tested by spirally defaults and falling home prices.
Wells Fargo (WFC) was tenth in volume, was down $0.22 a share.
There we see Bear Stearns (BS) closed, down $7.78 and the chairman of the company's executive committee said that reports of liquidity problems are totally ridiculous. This came after Moody's downgraded dozens of (INAUDIBLE) of securities issues by Bear Stearns. McDonalds (MCD) one of the few blue chips to show a good gain, $1.53. The company said its global same store sales were up 11.7 percent in February. Standard & Poor's today repeated a "strong buy" recommendation on McDonald's.
Nationwide Financial (NFS) up $9.79. Its parent company National Mutual is offering to buy all of its shares for $47.20 each in cash.
Then we see BCE Inc. (BCE), the old Bell Canada, up $1.94. The Quebec superior court has approved the company's plan to go private.
Countrywide Financial (CFC) down $0.71 or 14 percent of its value. "Wall Street Journal" reports the company faces an FBI inquiry into whether company officials misrepresented the firm's financial conditions and the quality of its mortgage loans.
Aeropostale (ARO) down $2.41. Citigroup downgraded the casual apparel retailer from "hold" to an outright "sell."
And then White Mountain Insurance (WTM) down $25.07 on news that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Corp. plans to sell 16.3 percent of its stake in White Mountain.
Medco Health Solutions (MHS) moved up $1.15. Goldman Sachs upgraded it from "neutral" to a "buy" recommendation.
And then Texas Instruments (TXN) closed up $0.35, but after the close, the stock dropped to around $28.50. The company then forecast first quarter earnings of $0.41 to $0.45. That's down from the $0.46 Wall Street estimate.
NASDAQ's most active, Apple (AAPL) down $2.56.
Google (GOOG) got hit today, $19.73 loss.
Microsoft (MSFT) bucking the trend up $0.18.
Research in Motion (RIMM) a $4.45 loss.
Baidu.com (BIDU) down $1.63.
Intel (INTC) edged up $0.05.
And then First Solar (FSLR) down $20.25.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.12 loss there.
Yahoo! (YHOO) off $0.52.
And Gilead Sciences (GILD), tenth in NASDAQ volume, down $2.57.
Keryx Biopharmaceuticals (KERX), my goodness, look at that loss, 87 of its value gone, down $0.64 a share today. Late stage trials of the company's diabetes drug failed to meet end targets and the stock was downgraded by three brokerages, Bear Stearns, Jefferies and Cowan and Company.
Another major loser was CRA International (CRA), this is a business consulting firm. The company sees first quarter earnings at $0.28 at best and the Street is double that, $0.56 a share. Down went the stock.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
