Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Thursday, July 10, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Worries over Fannie and Freddie added to a volatile day on Wall Street. Stocks opened modestly higher in a rebound from yesterday's drubbing. But by 11:00 a.m., the Fannie and Freddie concerns had wiped out the early gains, sending the Dow to a 21-point loss. Stocks pushed higher in the earlier afternoon only to pull back on a late surge in oil to a one- week high. But some last minute buying lifted the market to a positive close. The Dow Industrial Average ended with a gain of 81.58 at 11,229.02. The NASDAQ gained 22.96 to 2,257.85. Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 8.70, closing at 1,253.39. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note climbed 2/32 to par and 19/32, putting the yield at 3.80 percent.
Big Board volume leader on 23.25 million shares, Lehman Brothers (LEH), down $2.44. This morning it traded as low as $15.73 on a rumor that Pimco was cutting back on doing business with Lehman. Pimco denied that and the stock partially recovered, but still ended down $2.44.
Bank of America (BAC), a $0.30 gain today. Yesterday the company said it doesn't have to raise additional capital and it won't cut the dividend.
Then Freddie Mac (FRE), down $2.26. Standard & Poor's repeated a sell today and cut its price target to only $6 a share.
Fannie Mae (FNM) down $2.11. Standard & Poor's repeated a hold rating today on that one, and cut its price target down to $15 a share.
Wachovia (WB) off $1.16. Yesterday it forecast a second-quarter loss of around $1.30. Today Standard & Poor's downgraded it from sell to a strong sell.
Citigroup (C) was down $0.16.
Ford Motor (F), a $0.37 drop.
GE (GE) moved up $0.45. GE is planning to spin off its consumer and industrial businesses.
Wells Fargo (WFC) down a dime.
And then JPMorgan Chase (JPM) moved up $0.23 a share.
American International Group (AIG) lost $2.15. Moody's today downgraded the company's insurance financial strength rating.
And then MasterCard (MA) closed up a $1.95. MasterCard was informed that it will -- by Standard & Poor's it will replace ACE Limited (ACE) in the Standard & Poor's 500. And MasterCard stock will replace GM (GM) in the Standard & Poor's 100. After hours trading MasterCard jumped to $266 a share on that news. ACE feel about $3. And General Motors actually moved up about $0.11 after hours.
Alcoa (AA), a $3.06-gain. Aluminum prices rebounded nicely today and that certainly helped the stock.
Nordstrom (JWN), the big department store chain down $2.72. June same- store sales plunged 19 percent and the company sees second-quarter earnings at or a bit below its previous $0.65 to $0.70 per share guidance.
Shaw Group (SGR), the big engineering firm, up $5.49. Its earnings came out, third quarter, $0.70, $0.06 above the Wall Street estimate and up from $0.66 last year. Standard & Poor's upgraded the stock from hold to a buy.
Then came Cypress Semiconductor (CY), moving up a $1.60. The company's majority-owned subsidiary, SunPower Corporation (SPWR), was selected by Florida Power & Light (FPL) to build the largest solar power plant in the United States. SunPower's stock jumped $8.83 to $70.06 a share. Nice move there.
Then Marriott International (MAR) losing $1.87, lower second-quarter earnings, $0.41 versus $0.43 a year ago. And the company sees the upcoming environment being very challenging and North America particularly. That news hurt a lot of the resort and casino stocks, particularly those in Las Vegas.
Let's have a look at those: Las Vegas (LVS), MGM (MGM), Penn National (PENN). And Wynn Resorts (WYNN) down $7.62. The company said earnings at its Las Vegas casino in the second quarter fell almost 70 percent. But its Macau casino earnings almost doubled. And after the close, Wynn said it's going to buy back an additional $500 million in stock and denied the reports that it needs to raise $3 billion. In after hours trading, Wynn stock jumped right back to $78 a share.
Entercom Communications (ETM) down $1.66. Citigroup downgraded the radio station owner from hold to a sell recommendation.
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list on NASDAQ, up $2.38. Its iPhone introduced tomorrow, the new one.
Google (GOOG), a $0.98 loss.
Research In Motion (RIMM) fell $0.41.
Intel (INTC), an $0.81 gain.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) gained $0.55 a share.
Microsoft (MSFT), a $0.22 advance.
Qualcomm (QCOM) up a $1.59.
Baidu.com (BIDU) down $3.52.
First Solar (FSLR) was up $14.60.
And Dell (DELL) up $0.75 a share.
FCStone Group (FCSX) down $12.26. The commodity risk management company had third-quarter earnings of $0.42, and that was $0.05 below the Wall Street estimate.
And finally, Excel Technology (XLTC) jumped $8.20. GSI Group (GSIG) will acquire the company for $32 a share in cash.
Those are the "Stocks in the News" tonight.
