Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: The durable goods report gave Wall Street an opening boost as did the early decline in oil futures. The Dow rose 30 points at the outset of trading while the NASDAQ gained just fractionally. Stocks faltered after oil staged a midday rebound. At noon the Dow posted a 36 point loss with the NASDAQ off 11 points. The financial sector sold off after Citigroup said AIG may have to raise more capital. Selling pressure eased late in the day though and buyers lifted the market into positive ground by the final bell. The Dow Industrial Average closed up 45.68 at 12,594.03. The NASDAQ Composite was up 5.46 ending at 2486.70, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 5.49 points to 1390.84. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note lost 21/32 to 98 31/32, putting the yield at 4 percent even.
Once again topping the active list today on 20 million shares, Citigroup (C) losing $0.06 a share.
Followed by General Electric (GE) up $0.15. GE notes it had five non-U.S. bidders for its appliance unit.
Pfizer (PFE) in there with a $0.03 loss.
Bank of America (BAC) down $0.30.
Ford Motor Co (F) dropped $0.02. The company said it may cut 12 percent of its U.S. salaried workforce. That's according to the "Detroit Press."
Moving along in the actives, American International Group (AIG) hurting the Dow with the loss of $1.71. Citigroup said it's not clear if the company's capital position is sufficient despite last week's $20 billion capital infusion. Citigroup proceeded to cut the price target on AIG from $47 down to $41 a share.
Wells Fargo (WFC) dropped $0.09.
Regional banks weak today, Wachovia (WS) off $0.60.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) dropped $0.15.
And then Co vale do Rio (RIO) up $1.02 and that was tenth in volume.
Deere & Co (DE) did well, up $2.72. The company's boosting its quarterly dividend by 12 percent. It'll go from $0.25 to $0.28 a share and the company also plans to buy back $5 billion of its own stock.
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) losing $2.09. The company plans to offer 35 million equity units at $50 each. Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes including repayment of short-term debt.
Coca Cola Enterprises (CCE) down $1.11. The company sees a high single digit decline percentage wise in its second quarter earnings, not good news there.
Polo Ralph Lauren (RL) did well, up $7.25. First quarter earnings, fourth quarter earnings, $1 even, up from $0.68 last year and $0.35 above the Street consensus. The company also plans to buy up to $250 million of its own stock.
American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) up $1.39. $0.21 in first quarter earnings versus $0.35 last year, but $0.02 above the Street estimate. The company sees second quarter rising to $0.28 to $0.30 a share.
United Parcel Service (UPS) up $2.14. The company will provide all air transportation for all U.S. package volume for DHL. Air Transport Services Corp., which had that contract, saw its stock tumble $1.73 to only $1.24 a share.
And Keycorp (KEY), one of the weak regional banks, down $2.29. The company sees elevated net loan charge offs this year. RBC Capital cut its price target from $18 to $15 a share. Standard & Poor's downgraded it from "buy" to "hold."
NASDAQ's most active, Apple (AAPL) moving up $0.58.
Followed by Research in Motion (RIMM) $2.67 gain.
Google (GOOG) up $7.34.
First Solar (FSLR) up $8.02.
Microsoft (MSFT) a $0.26 drop. Yahoo! CEO said after the close potential merger with Microsoft has a tremendous amount of power. We'll have more on the possible merger between Microsoft, Google and Yahoo! in an interview coming up with Gene Marcial.
Intel (INTC) $0.13 drop there.
And Baidu.com (BIDU) up $8.44.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a $0.05 drop.
Qualcomm (QCOM) $0.37 loss.
And then Dryships (DRYS) with a good gain of $8.36 a share.
Expedia (EXPE) up $1.01. Chairman Barry Diller dismissed new rumors that the company would be taken private.
And then finally Daktronics (DAKT) climbed $2.04 after reporting stronger than expected fourth quarter earnings of $0.14, up from $0.09 and that was $0.08 above Street estimates.
