Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
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JEFF YASTINE: Wall Street saw today's modest rise in consumer prices as not so bad after all. The Dow spiked to a 130-point gain in the first hour of the session, led by IBM and Honeywell. By mid-afternoon, gains in Oracle and the solar power stocks pushed the NASDAQ 33 points higher. But selling pressures kicked in and the tech index gave back nearly its entire advance, while the blue chips held on to decent gains. The Dow closed up 66.20 at 12,898.38. The NASDAQ rising 1.58 to 2,496.7 and the S&P 500 climbing 5.62 to 1,408.66. Bond traders weren't entirely convinced that inflation isn't a problem. The 10-year note falling 2/32 to 99 20/32, putting the yield at 3.92 percent.
Citigroup (C) topping our list, gaining $0.22.
EMC Corp (EMC) climbed $0.70.
Pfizer (PFE) rising $0.09.
Electronic Data (EDS) ended unchanged.
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) rose $1.37.
Annaly Capital Mgmt (ALY) rose $0.40. Last night, the real estate investment trust priced a 60 million share offering at $16.50 a share.
Clear Channel (CCU) up $0.52. As we mentioned last night, the new revised and lower buyout price is $36 a share. Bain Capital, Thomas Lee Partners the buyers.
American International Group (AIG) climbed $0.22.
And General Electric (GE) rose $0.18. GE may sell its appliance division. After the close, the "Wall Street Journal" said the conglomerate hired Goldman Sachs to explore the sale of its appliance division, which was founded over 100 years ago.
Ford (F) dropping $0.09. The company issuing a recall for 650,000 pick up trucks to replace a defective hose connection.
Shares in Deere (DE) sliding nearly $9. Second quarter profits were a penny less than estimates. The farm equipment maker warned that soaring steel prices and higher freight costs will dent this year's earnings. Costs will run about $1/2 billion more than last year.
Macys (M) climbed $0.87. It traded over $26 early in the session. Investors piled in after the department store chain delivered stronger than expected profits of $0.02 a share. Analysts expected a loss and executives think the restructuring efforts will allow them to hit their earlier profit forecast despite the slow economy.
Shares in Sony (SNE) up nearly $4. Investors cheered the Japanese electronic maker's turnaround plan. Strong sales of Playstations and flat screen TVs offset drops in the values of its financial investments.
Nike (NKE) climbed $1.78. Nike's brand president says the footwear company wants to make an acquisition in Asia to help build its market position in China. JPMorgan's analyst today called China Nike's biggest growth opportunity.
And another sports apparel firm, Under Armour (UA) advanced $1.63. It will be added to the S&P madcap 400 index after the close of tomorrow's session.
Safeway (SWY) climbed $1.12. The super market boosted its dividend 20 percent and tossed in an extra $1 billion for stock buybacks.
Jack in the Box (JBX) knocked for a loss of nearly $3. The chain says fewer customers are coming to its restaurants because of the economy. Jack in the Box did post higher quarterly profits but same store sales expected to be flat this year at best.
On the NASDAQ, Apple (AAPL) shares fell $3.70, was as high as $192 before being caught in the late-day downdraft on the NASDAQ.
Research in Motion (RIMM) falling $2.28.
Google (GOOG) dropping $6.70. Late today, ComScore said Google has overtaken Yahoo! to become the most visited website in the U.S.
Microsoft (MSFT) rising $0.15.
First Solar (FSLR) up $3.96.
Yahoo! (YHOO) advanced $0.58. After the close, Reuters says Carl Icahn will move ahead with the Yahoo! proxy fight. Reuters sources say he's lined up at least 12 candidates for Yahoo!s board of directors intent on getting them back to the table with Microsoft and Yahoo! shares rose $0.50 in after hours trading.
Intel (INTC) up $0.08.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) dropping $0.14.
Baidu.com (BIDU) losing more than $7.
Applied Materials (AMAT) up $0.04.
Whole Foods (WFM) tumbling $4.68. The company with second quarter results falling 13 percent.
And finally Staples (SPLS) gained $1.03. Jaffray's upgraded the shares with the office supply retailer sweetening its offer for Corporate Express by about $4 billion. Jaffray's expects that to add to office - excuse me Staples future product.
And those are our stocks in the news.
