Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Monday, April 07, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street showed early strength as investors were cheered by the renewal of takeover activity and by the prospect that Washington Mutual was close to getting a major cash infusion. In a steady advance, the Dow rose to a 116 point gain by 1:00 p.m., with the NASDAQ Composite up 15 points. The rally was blunted by a surge in oil futures and caution ahead of Alcoa's earnings report, so the market pulled back this afternoon and was narrowly mixed at the final bell. The Dow Industrial Average salvaged a closing gain of only 3.01 points at 12,612.43. The NASDAQ Composite lost 6.15 ending at 2364.83. Standard & Poor's 500 edged up 2.14 points to 1372.54. In the bond market, the 10-year note fell 19/32 to 99 21/32, putting the yield at 3.54 percent.
Big board volume leader on 31.3 million shares, Washington Mutual (WM) up $2.95. That's a 29 percent advance. As you heard, there's speculation that a private equity firm called TPG may infuse up to $5 billion. Citigroup (C) in there with a $0.52 gain.
Ford Motor (F) $0.24 advance.
General Electric (GE) fell $0.30.
And then Altria Group (MO) with a $0.17 gain.
Pfizer (PFE) up $0.13.
Followed by Bank of America (BAC) a $0.09 gain.
And Co vale do Rio (RIO) was up $0.10.
Wachovia (WS) a $0.27 advance.
And then General Motors (GM) up $0.43 after trading as high as $21.77. This morning, the UAW and American Axle Corporation officials met for the first time in months and there's hope that it could lead to a six- week strike ending and that has idled about 30 General Motors plants.
Merck (MRK) up $0.78. Goldman Sachs says this company should have strong first quarter earnings out at the end of the month despite the disappointments over its cholesterol drug, said the same thing about Schering-Plough and that stock moved up $0.64 a share.
Another drug stock today doing very well, up $2.74. This week's "Baron's Financial" magazine cover story is all about Wyeth (WYE) and its promising Alzheimer's drug.
US Steel (X) up $3.02. Morgan Stanley upgraded it from "equal weight" to "over weight."
AK Steel (AKS) up $1.97. The company is boosting its carbon steel product prices by $150 a ton effective immediately.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) closed up $0.11, but after the close, the company said it's going to lay off up to 10 percent of its workforce. In after hours trading, the stock fell $0.25 from the price you see there.
Westlake Chemical (WLK) moving up $1.84. UBS financial brokerage upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy" on a valuation basis.
Eastman Chemical (EMN) up $2.05. The company expects to exceed first quarter Wall Street earnings estimate of $1.30 a share which is at the high end of its Street estimate.
Temple Inland (TIN) up $1.27. Citigroup upgraded it from "hold" to a "buy."
And then Discover Financial (DFS) edging up $0.95. The company will acquire Diner's Club International from Citigroup for a price of $165 million.
UBS AG (UBS), the big brokerage, up $1.23. Merrill Lynch upgraded it from "neutral" to a "buy" today.
Intl Game Technology (IGT) losing $2.02. Bear Stearns cut its fiscal 2008 earnings estimate from $1.62 a share down to $1.50 and fiscal 2009 earnings estimates from $2.07 down to $1.94 a share.
Ann Taylor (ANN) dropped $1.62 after the Piper Jaffray brokerage downgraded it from "buy" to just a "neutral" rating.
On the upside, WR Grace (GRA) gaining $1.98. The company is in an agreement to settle all present and future asbestos-related personal injury claims.
NASDAQ topped by Apple (AAPL) stock up $2.81.
Followed by Google (GOOG) up $5.73.
Research in Motion (RIMM) down $1.92.
Solar stocks weak today, First Solar (FSLR) off $5.75.
Baidu.com (BIDU) bucked that trend, up $6.11.
$0.45 drop in Cisco Systems (CSCO).
No change in Microsoft (MSFT). You heard about the battle with Yahoo!
Lifecell (LIFC) big gainer, up $7.31. Kinetic Concepts Corporation will acquire Lifecell for $51 a share in cash.
Intel (INTC) a $0.12 loss.
And then Yahoo! (YHOO) itself down $0.66 a share.
Pluristem Therapeutics (PSTI) up $2.21, huge percentage move, over 100 percent. The company placenta cell early trials are promising for the treatment of strokes.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
