Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Stocks took flight at Wall Street's opening bell today as bullish confidence soared in the belief this latest string of huge write downs signaled the worst of the credit crunch was over. The heavy upside trading volume and highly positive market breadth convinced many investors the market had seen a bottom. By midday, the Dow posted a hefty 314-point gain. The NASDAQ Composite was up 63 points. It was up, up and away for the rest of the day, thanks to a rally in the dollar and some frantic short covering. The Dow Industrial Average vaulted 391.47 points, ending at 12,654.36. The NASDAQ Composite jumped 83.65 points to 2362.75, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index soared 47.48 to 1370.18. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note slid 1 6/32 to 99 15/32, putting the yield at 3.56 percent.
Familiar name at the top of the active list, Citigroup (C) trading 37.8 million shares and up a hefty $2.42. That's a gain of almost 11 1/2 percent. Citigroup was the best gainer in the Dow and today, Bear Stearns repeated an "out perform" rating. Altria Group (MO) lost $0.05. Morgan Stanley downgraded it from "over weight" to just "equal weight."
General Electric (GE) did well in the Dow stock, up $1.42.
And Schering-Plough (SGP) edging up $0.34 after dropping over $5 yesterday on news its cholesterol drugs are not effective.
Bank of America (BAC) did well, up $2.95.
And then JPMorgan Chase (JPM) certainly participating in the rally, up $4.05.
Ford Motor Co (F) up $0.25.
SprintNextel (S) down a penny.
Pfizer (PFE) moved up $0.45.
And then came Lehman Brothers (LEH) with a nice gain of $6.70. The company sold more than expected, $4 billion in convertible preferred stock with a 7 1/2 percent dividend and it's convertible into common stock at a price of $49.87.
Let's have a look at some of the other investment banks and how they did today, Bear Stearns (BSC) edging up $0.36.
A big gain in Goldman Sachs (GS), almost $11.50.
Merrill Lynch (MER) and UBS Ag (UBS) did well. Incidentally, Deutsche Bank repeated a "buy" on UBS.
Fannie Mae (FNM) up $5.18. Anything to do with the finances and mortgage markets did well. Incidentally, Fannie Mae's cousin, Freddie Mac, was up $3.90.
One of the best percentage gainers was CSK Auto (CAO), rising $2.39. O'Reilly Automotive will acquire this company for $12 a share; $11 of it will be in O'Reilly stock and $1 in cash. O'Reilly stock edged up $0.89.
Media General (MEG) up $1.96. The company received $58 million from the sale of its SP newsprint company and it'll use the proceeds to pay down debt. It also intends to sell up to five of its TV stations and that should bring in about $100 million.
American Vanguard (AVD), an agricultural company, down $1.67. The company sees first quarter earnings below year-ago levels due to bad Midwest weather conditions.
And then KKR Financial Holdings (KFN) down $1.10. The company plans a public offering of 20 million shares. That means some earnings dilution apparently. Bear Stearns downgraded it from "out perform" to "peer perform."
Topping the NASDAQ actives, Apple (AAPL) rebounding $6.03 after declining 27 percent in the first quarter.
Google (GOOG) up $25.24. It fell 36 percent in the first quarter of this year.
Baidu.com (BIDU) big gain, $33.62.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up $5.25.
Microsoft (MSFT) up $1.12. Microsoft says it will not sweeten its $31 a share bid for Yahoo! Yahoo! stock fell $0.43.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.89 gain.
$0.79 rise in Intel (INTC).
Qualcomm (QCOM) up $1.22.
Oracle (ORCL) edged up $0.85.
And First Solar (FSLR) had a good day, up $6.39.
Ebay (EBAY) up $1.57. Goldman Sachs repeated a "buy" on it.
And then we see Intermune (ITMN) up $2.71 on promising trials for its hepatitis C treatment.
And finally on the American Exchange, Travel Centers of America (TA) slid $2.60 after posting a wider than expected fourth quarter loss of $4.86 per share versus a profit of $0.78 per share a year ago. Analysts figured the loss would only be $1.13 per share.
