Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Monday, July 07, 2008
|
|
|
|
PAUL KANGAS: Investors on Wall Street were cheered by the sharp drop in oil prices and the early strength in the dollar this morning. Their buying lifted the Dow 100 points at the outset of trading, while the NASDAQ jumped 31 points. The early rally faded over mid-session as the financial sector sold off sharply on concerns about more possible write-downs and questions about capital at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. At 1:00 p.m. the Dow posted a 140-point loss. The blue chips then jumped back briefly to a modest gain, only to slump again into the close. The Dow Industrial Average ended the day down 56.58 points at 11,231.96. The NASDAQ lost 2.06 ending at 2243.32, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 10.59 ending at 1252.31. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note gained 21/32 to 99 24/32, putting the yield at 3.91 percent.
Big board volume leader on 30 1/2 million shares, Citigroup (C) down $0.42 in a very weak financial sector and we'll explain some of the reasons shortly. Bank of America (BAC) lost $0.87.
General Electric (GE) moved up $0.19. The company's NBC Universal unit along with Bain Capital and Blackstone Group are in a deal to buy The Weather Channel, reportedly for about $3.5 billion.
Then Wachovia (WB) down $0.99 in that weak banking sector.
And Freddie Mac (FRE) plunging $2.59. Both it and its sister Fannie Mae were down on concerns that the mortgage finance giants may need to raise up to $75 billion because of a pending accounting change which would force them to keep larger potential loss reserves. A Lehman analyst however thinks that the companies will be granted an exemption to that accounting change.
Let's have a look at the sister and that's Fannie Mae (FNM) down $3.04.
Pfizer (PFE) moved down $0.36.
EMC Corp (EMC) edging $0.09 higher.
Wells Fargo (WFC) was down $0.40.
And then Ford Motor Co (F) a nickel gainer
Merck & Co (MRK) down $1.85. UBS financial downgraded it from "buy" to "neutral" in the belief the stock won't do much over the near term or it'll be range bound as they say these days.
Another Dow stock, Disney (DIS) losing $0.82. Lehman Brothers downgraded it from "equal weight" to "under weight" in the belief digital downloading could be as harmful to the movie and TV industry as it was to the music industry. Media stocks generally weak today.
Moving along to our next loser of the day, we're stuck on Disney. There we go, Marshall & Ilsley (MI) down $1.64. The company expects to take a second quarter loan and lease loss provision of up to $900 million or $2.22 a share, but the company will continue to pay its $0.32 quarterly dividend.
Cash America Intl (CSH), the pawn shop companies are doing very well in this troubled economy and this one boosted its second quarter earnings guidance from its previous level of $0.51 to $0.54, all the way up to $0.62 to $0.64 due to the booming pawn shop industry in this troubled economy.
Dyncorp Intl (DCP) up $1.15. The Stiefel Nicholas brokerage upgraded it from "hold" to a "buy."
And Kindred Healthcare (KND) rising $2.12. Friedman, Billings, Ramsey brokerage upgraded it from "market perform" to "out perform."
On the downside, Furniture Brands Intl (FBN) losing $1.12. Raymond James financial brokerage downgraded it from "out perform" to just "market perform."
Apple (AAPL) topped the NASDAQ active list with a gain of $5.04.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up $0.62.
Google (GOOG) did well, up $6.91.
There you see Yahoo! (YHOO) moving up $2.56 on possibly renewed talks with Microsoft (MSFT) which itself gained a nickel.
Then moving along in the NASDAQ actives, Cisco Systems (CSCO) down $0.55.
Baidu.com (BIDU) up $11.89.
Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA) was down $4.02. Late stage trials of the company's multiple sclerosis treatment showed an increased dosage of it had little positive impact if any.
Intel (INTC) a nickel gainer.
And then came Qualcomm (QCOM) with a $0.31 gain.
Broadcom (BRCM) moving up $1.87. Piper Jaffray upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy."
And APP Pharmaceuticals (APPX) a nice gain of $5.37. A German firm called Fresenius will acquire this company for $23 a share cash and if certain profits are achieved over the next two years, the price would go up to $29 a share.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
