Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Friday, June 06, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Between the surging oil prices and the bleak employment report, the direction for Wall Street was straight down from the open. Also feeding the bears was a weak dollar and word from the European central bank that it might raise interest rates. By mid-day, the Dow posted a 281- point loss, with the NASDAQ off 45 points. Oil moved still higher this afternoon and stocks plunged lower on word from Israel that it would attack Iran if that country did not stop its nuclear weapons program. So at the final bell, the Dow Industrial Average was off a hefty 394.64 points at 12,209.81. It fell in four of this week's five sessions for a net loss of 428.51 points. The NASDAQ Composite tumbled 75.38 points today at 2,474.56. It rose twice, fell three times this week, losing 48.10 points overall. Standard & Poor's 500 plunged 43.37 ending at 1,360.68 today and it lost 39.70 points for the week overall. In the bond market, the 10-year note gained 30/32 to 99 19/32, putting the yield at 3.93 percent.
Volume leader on the big board on nearly 27 million shares, Citigroup (C) down $1.16. The company has received the first round of bids for its Primerica financial services unit. Some say it could bring as much as $7 billion.
Bank of America (BAC) down $1.49 on a weak financial sector.
Pfizer (PFE) $0.71 loss.
General Electric (GE) dropped $1.04.
And Washington Mutual (WM), another weak financial, off $1.08.
Wells Fargo (WFC) lost $1.78.
Ford Motor Co (F) dropping $0.36.
Wachovia (WS) a loss of $1.46.
National City (NCC) down $0.40. Federal regulators put the company on probation according to the "Wall Street Journal" and other medium sized banks are also being watched very closely.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) still another weak financial, down $2.01.
American Intl Group (AIG) down $2.48. "Wall Street Journal" reports the SEC is investigating if the company overstated the value of contracts linked to sub-prime mortgages.
And then MGIC Investment (MTG) off $1.44, big percentage drop. After the close yesterday, Fitch cut the company's ratings to the mortgage insurer and Fitch cut in the belief that the company will face big profit pressures for two more years.
Lehman Brothers (LEH) off $1.56. "New York Post" reports the company may release second quarter results a week early and at that time announce a plan to raise some $5 billion through a rights offering.
Best Buy Co (BBY) losing $3.14. Deutsche Bank cut its rating on the stock from "buy" to just a "hold" on concern the company has an oversupply of flat panel TVs.
National Semiconductor (NSM) bucking the trend with $1.08 gain. Fourth quarter earnings higher, $0.34 versus $0.28 a year ago, $0.07 better than the Street was expecting.
And then Concho Resources (CXO) up $3.58. The company is going to buy all the general and limited partner shares of Henry Petroleum, positive reaction to that news.
Chesapeake Energy (CHK) up $1.97. In the past month, the company had successfully completed two additional horizontal wells in its Haynesville shale discovery in Louisiana and Texas.
Entravision Communications (EVC) losing $1.07 or about 18.5 percent of its value. Citigroup downgraded it from "buy" to just a "hold" rating.
And Cascade (CAE), which makes (INAUDIBLE) and things like that, down almost $6 a share. First quarter earnings, $0.98, down from last year's $1.10 and the DA Davidson brokerage downgraded the stock from "buy" to just "neutral."
Apple (AAPL) topped the NASDAQ active list, down $3.79.
Google (GOOG) lost $19.30
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.81 drop there.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) off $1.
Research in Motion (RIMM) dropping $4.18.
Intel (INTC) off $0.97. You heard the company is being investigated about anti-competitive nature possibilities.
$2.25 loss in Qualcomm (QCOM).
Baidu.com (BIDU) off $16.77.
Yahoo! (YHOO) bucked the trend, up $0.08 a share.
And then came Oracle (ORCL) down $0.72.
Inspire Pharmaceuticals (ISPH) doing well, up $1.34. Late stage trials of the company's cystic fibrosis treatment improved breathing significantly. Stock did well on that news.
Focus Media Holdings (FMCN) however plunging $5.70. The company had a first quarter loss of $0.42 a share, versus earnings of $0.13 last year. It's a digital ad company based in China and that massive earthquake disrupted the company's operations and hurt results.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
