Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Monday, June 02, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street began June with a broad sell off triggered by those top management shakeups at Wachovia and Washington Mutual. With the financial sector leading the way down, the Dow tumbled to a 200-point loss by 1:00 p.m. with the NASDAQ off 50 points. Notable strength in the energy-related stocks gave the market some stability this afternoon and that helped stocks come off their lows of the day, although they still closed sharply lower The Dow Industrial Average ended down 134.50 at 12,503.82. The NASDAQ lost 31.13 to 2491.53. Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 14.71 points, ending at 1385.67. In the bond market, the 10-year note gained 26/32 to 99 8/32, putting the yield at 3.97 percent. New York exchange volume leader on 14.6 million shares, General Electric (GE) down $0.31.
Followed by Citigroup (C) off $0.43. Standard & Poor's downgraded the outlook for Citigroup to negative.
Wachovia (WS) down $0.40. As you heard, top management shake up there and Standard & Poor's said it may cut the company's ratings.
Pfizer (PFE) $0.18 loss there.
Bank of America (BAC) fell $0.43. Standard & Poor's revised its outlook to negative for Bank of America. After the close today incidentally, the CEO said no dividend is forthcoming.
Ford Motor Co (F) down $0.16.
AT&T (T) dropped $0.55.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) in that weak banking group, down $0.85.
The lone gainer in the 10 most actives, General Motors (GM) up $0.34. This week's "Barron's" financial magazine highlights GM, saying the turnaround in the company could accelerate over the next two years and the stock could rise to at least $30 and maybe go as high as $45 a share.
Lehman Brothers (LEH) down $2.98. Standard & Poor's rating services lowered the rating from A plus to A on Lehman with a negative outlook.
Also cut in the ratings were Merrill Lynch (MER). Let's have a look and see what that did, down $1.30.
And also had its ratings cut by Standard & Poor's was Morgan Stanley (MS) off $1.13.
FedEx (FDX) down $1.06. As we touched on, after the close the company is boosting its quarterly dividend 10 percent from $0.10 to $0.11 and also will change the name of FedEx Kinko's to FedEx Office.
Then came the energy stocks, the strongest part of the market by far today. Massey Energy (MEE) up $6.22. Friedman Billings upgraded it from "market perform" to "outperform" and also named its top picks to a coal company, Patriot Coal (PCX) and Consol Energy (CNX) both nice gainers.
And a lot of the price targets were moved higher by Friedman Billings including Arch Coal (ACI), Peabody Energy (BTU) and Foundation Coal (FDL), all with nice closing gains.
Even the refiners were strong today, Holly (HOC) up $4.95. Deutsche Bank upgraded it from "sell" to "hold," did the same upgrade on Tesoro (TSO) which moved up $2.71.
Deutsche Bank upgraded "hold" to "buy" on Frontier Oil (FT) which had a nice up move.
Goodrich Petroleum (GDP), the nat gas exploration company, up $2.71. Raymond James financial upgraded it "out perform" to a "buy." Apparently the company has an interest in an east Texas natural gas discovery.
Harris (HRS), the big loser of the day, plunging $10.18. The company, although it's been approached by suitors regarding a takeover or a merger, it has decided to remain independent.
And the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) down $18.20. "Financial Times" reports the company's attempt to acquire Nymex likely to be derailed by shareholder opposition. Nymex stock fell $4.12.
Apple (AAPL) topped the NASDAQ active list, down $2.65.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.52.
Google (GOOG) losing $10.80.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a $0.37 drop.
Research in Motion (RIMM) off $1.85.
First Solar (FSLR) off $11.58.
Intel (INTC) the lone gainer in the actives up $0.02 a share.
Baidu.com (BIDU) down $7.31.
$0.84 loss in Qualcomm (QCOM).
And then Dell (DELL) off $0.27.
Elsewhere, Acorda Therapeutics (ACOR) up $6.74 on the prospect it might get FDA approval for its multiple sclerosis treatment.
And another therapeutic company which was a big gain, Avant Immunotherapeutics (AVAN) up $3.97. Researchers say the company's treatment for brain cancer doubled the survival rate according to a recent study.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
