Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: The combination of bargain hunting and lower oil prices helped stocks on Wall Street push sharply higher at the open. An hour into trading, the Dow had jumped 155 points and the NASDAQ was up 29. The sheer strength of that rally bolstered bullish conviction and had the bears running to cover short positions. Then, when as expected, the Fed announced no rate change, buyers stampeded and sent the market into a massive late surge. The Dow Industrial Average vaulted 331.62 points closing at 11,615.77. The NASDAQ soared 64.24, I should say .27 to 2,349.83, while the Standard & Poor's 500 jumped 35.87 closing at 1,284.88. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 14/32 to 98 26/32, lifting the yield to 4.02 percent.
New York exchange volume leader on 20 1/2 million shares, Citigroup (C) moving up $1.09 in the strong financial sector.
Bank of America (BAC) up $0.96.
Washington Mutual (WM) gained $0.35.
Wachovia (WB), second day in a row nice gains, up $1.95.
And then Pfizer (PFE) edged up $0.73 a share.
General Electric (GE) gained $1.08.
Ford (F) up $0.28.
Wells Fargo (WFC) rose $1.36.
Motorola (MOT) down $0.27.
And then American International Group (AIG) rising $3.20. UBS Financial upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy" today. Second quarter results are due tomorrow for AIG.
Proctor & Gamble (PG) up $2.15. Fourth quarter earnings out today, nicely higher, $0.92 versus $0.67 a year ago on a 10 percent rise in revenue. Standard & Poor's repeated a "strong buy."
Let's look at some of the other big gainers in the Dow. American Express (AXP), Boeing (BA) especially nice gain.
3M Company (MMM), McDonald's (MCD), Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) up $1.91.
The retail sector especially strong today because of the sharp drop in oil prices.
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) down $1.53. Fourth quarter earnings came in at $0.58 and that was $0.09 below the Wall Street consensus.
On the upside, Cablevision (CVC) rose $2.27. The company's board has authorized the firm to take all necessary action to establish a regular dividend policy along with stock buybacks and also to explore possible spinoffs of some of the company's businesses.
The big brewing company, Molson Coors Brewing (TAP) down $6.25. Earnings second quarter, $0.93, down from $0.97 a year ago. That's despite nearly a 5 percent rise in sales.
Westlake Chemical (WLK) did well, up $2.29. Second quarter earnings jumped to $0.72 but $0.58 last year and revenues shot up 41 percent.
The outsourcing firm Hewitt Associate (HEW) up $4.48. The third quarter earnings came in at $0.48 versus $0.43 last year and a 7 percent rise in revenues in the period.
Fortress Investment (FIG) fell $1.57. Citigroup downgraded it from "hold" to "sell" and cut its price target from $14 to only $9 a share.
And Marvel Entertainment (MVL) down $4.07. Higher earnings second quarter, $0.59 versus last year's $0.34, but the company sees 2008 earnings, the best of them would be up around $1.75. The Street estimate is up there at $2.02.
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list on NASDAQ, up $7.41. UBS Financial today started covering Apple with a "buy" recommendation and a target price of $195.
Microsoft (MSFT) up $0.93.
Research in Motion (RIMM) gained $5.55.
Google (GOOG) did well, up $16.85.
And then Cisco Systems (CSCO) up $0.66. After the close, Cisco reported fourth quarter earnings, $0.40, up from $0.36 last year, a penny better than the Street was expecting, but Chairman and CEO John Chambers withheld full year 2009 guidance because of what he says are the challenges over the next few quarters.
Moving along in the active list, Qualcomm (QCOM) up $2.86.
Intel (INTC) $0.64 gain.
Oracle (ORCL) up $0.96.
Dell (DELL) was down $0.28.
And Baidu.com (BIDU) a $0.09 gain.
Global Industries (GLBL) tumbled $3.05 on a huge earnings miss. The maker of pipelines for oil and gas delivery posted a surprise second quarter loss of $0.12 per share versus analyst estimates for a profit of $0.37 per share.
