Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: That talk about inflation and higher interest rates did not sit well on Wall Street. The Dow fell nearly 50 points at the outset of trading, while the NASDAQ lost 20 points. Over the next few hours, stocks staged a choppy comeback as oil futures pulled back from early gains. At 1:30 this afternoon, the Dow was sporting a 77-point rise while the NASDAQ Index was up six points. That tech-laden index soon turned negative again and acted as a drag on the blue chips and the result was a mixed close. The Dow Industrial Average salvaged a closing gain of only 9.44 ending at 12,289.76. The NASDAQ Composite lost 10.52 ending at 2,448.94, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 3.32 to 1,358.44. In the bond market, the 10-year note fell 21/32 to 98 5/32, putting the yield at 4.10 percent.
New York exchange volume leader on 22 3/4 million shares, Citigroup (C) moving up $0.66. The financial sector shows some signs of a rebound today.
We see Washington Mutual (WM) rising $0.43.
And Wachovia (WB) up $0.87, not a big gain, but gains.
Bank of America (BAC) edged up a penny a share.
Lorillard (LO) first day of trading on the big board, this is a spin off from Lowes tobacco company. The stock is replacing Ambac in the S&P 500 Index. The stock opened at $74 and moved up from there to $76.63 on the close.
Lehman Brothers (LEH) down $1.98. Credit Suisse downgraded it from "out perform" to just a "neutral" rating.
General Electric (GE) $0.27 gain.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) up $078.
And then Pfizer (PFE) down $0.08.
AT&T (T) tenth in volume, lost $0.34.
Coca-Cola Co (KO) up $2.15. Deutsche Bank upgraded it from "hold" to "buy" in the belief the company will benefit from strong international business, a weak dollar and of course from the Beijing Olympics coming up in August.
Then rival Pepsico (PEP) had a good day as well, up $2.21. The company confirmed its 2008 earnings guidance will be at least $3.72 a share.
And Kellogg Co (K) did well, up $1.69. JPMorgan upgraded it from "neutral" to "over weight" because of valuation, too low says JPMorgan.
Ford Motor Co (F) $0.24 loss. Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. and its 20 million share cash tender offer was heavily over subscribed, so Tracinda will purchase less than 2 percent of the shares offered. The price will be $8.50 a share.
Companhia Vale do Rio (RIO) up $1 -- down $1.57. The company's proposing a $15 billion offering of common and preferred shares, denies it's in talks to acquire Freeport McMoran Anglo-American or Alcoa.
Now today, the Energy Information Administration predicted slow growth in electricity demand, limiting growth in gold consumption to only 0.9 percent this year. That's down from 1.9 percent growth in 2007 and the gains in the coal stocks were significant. Arch Coal (ACI), Consol Energy (CNX), Patriot Coal (PCX) and Peabody Energy (BTU) all down significantly.
Another group that was weak, the golds, Barrick Gold (ABX) losing $2.85. New York August gold contract down $26.40 at $871.20 the ounce.
Good gainer today was United Rental (URI) up $2.59. The board has approved a modified Dutch tender auction to buy up to 27.1 million shares. It'll pay somewhere between $22 and $25 a share.
Arvinmeritor (ARM) up $1.08. The automotive parts company got an upgrade from Goldman Sachs from "neutral" to "buy."
And then Pall Corp (PLL) which makes industrial filters, had higher third quarter earnings, $0.54 versus $0.45 last year. Sales were up 18 percent.
Topping the NASDAQ actives, Apple (AAPL) up $4.03. Lehman Brothers boosted its price target from $202 to $234 and Citigroup from $248 all the way up to $287.
Research in Motion (RIMM) an $0.83 gain.
Microsoft (MSFT) up $0.18.
Google (GOOG) fell $3.70.
Baidu.com (BIDU) off $5.66.
An $0.08 drop in Intel (INTC).
First Solar (FSLR) a $0.39 gain.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.07 drop.
Qualcomm (QCOM) was up $0.31.
Tenth in volume Dell (DELL) losing $0.55.
Nvidia (NVDA) down $1.40 today. FTN Midwest securities downgraded the stock from "neutral" to "sell."
And then CMGI Inc (CMGI), a marketing technology company, plunging $3.71 after reporting a third quarter loss of $0.05 a share, versus earnings of $0.19 a year ago.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
