Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Friday, August 22, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: The decline in oil prices and a strong dollar got Wall Street off to a running start, sending the Dow soaring nearly 200 points by 11:00 a.m., while the NASDAQ Composite was up 28 points. The market maintained most of its gains over the next several hours thanks to Fed chief Bernanke's hint that any hike in interest rates was not probable. When oil prices showed no sign of rebounding, stocks went on to close near the day's best levels. The Dow Industrial Average ended up a hefty 197.85 points at 11,628.06. This week it fell twice and rose three times, still had a net loss of 31.84 points. The NASDAQ was up 34.33 ending at 2414.71 today. It rose twice and fell three times this week and fell 37.81 points overall. Standard & Poor's 500 rose 14.48 points, ending at 1292.20 today and it dropped exactly six points this week overall. In the bond market, the 10- year note fell 12/32 to 101 1/32, putting the yield up to 3.88 percent.
Big board volume leader on 16.6 million shares, Freddie Mac (FRE) down $0.35, another 11 percent loss.
And then came Fannie Mae (FNM), second day in a row closed with a gain, up $0.15. You heard the news of course on the two.
Then came Lehman Brothers (LEH) a $0.69 advance on the close, but it traded as high as $15.86. Word making the rounds a Korean development bank is reportedly considering making an investment in Lehman Brothers.
Citigroup (C) moved up $0.67.
And Ford Motor Co (F) a nickel gain.
Wachovia (WB) was down $0.29.
Bank of America (BAC) rose $1.17.
Pfizer (PFE) $0.38 gain there.
Wamu (WM) a $0.07 drop.
And then Kraft Foods (KFT) was a $0.09 loss, tenth in volume.
These are some of the Dow stocks that helped the average attain nearly 198 point advance today. Boeing (BA) up two points and incidentally, Boeing said it may withdraw from bidding on the tanker refueling contract unless it gets more time to come up with its estimate.
Caterpillar (CAT), IBM (IBM), Procter & Gamble (PG) and United Technologies (UTX) all doing well in helping that Dow attain nearly a 200- point gain.
The airlines dropped of course very strong on a pull back in oil. AMR (AMR), Continental Air (CAL), UAL Corp (UAUA) and US Airways Group (LCC) all doing well and they were higher than this during the day, most of them.
Gap (GPS), the apparel retailer, up $0.87, traded as high as $20.22. Second quarter earnings out, $0.32, up from $0.19 last year, its healthy margins and cost cutting offset a 10 percent drop in same store sales.
Another apparel maker, Chicos Fas (CHS) moving up $0.36. It traded as high as $5.02 today after Goldman Sachs upgraded it from "sell" to a "neutral" rating.
And then Toro Co (TTC) a $2.96 advance there. After the close yesterday, third quarter earnings came in at $0.99, down from $1.02 last year, but $0.04 better than the Street was expecting.
Denbury Resources (DNR) down $1.55. The oil and gas exploration firm was cut in target price from $43 down to $33 a share by Credit Suisse.
And then Noah Education Holdings Ltd (NED) lost $0.77. Oppenheimer downgraded it from "market outperform" to "market perform" despite yesterday's better than expected results, but the company did give a disappointing outlook and that hurt the stock certainly.
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list on NASDAQ, gaining $2.50.
Research in Motion (RIMM) $0.85 loss.
Microsoft (MSFT) edged up $0.66. CME Group (CME), that's the former Chicago Mercantile Exchange, up $5.07. It completed its acquisition of Nymex today, up $15.07 I should say.
$4.06 gain in Google (GOOG).
Intel (INTC) $0.44 rise.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) gained $0.48.
$0.06 rise in Dell (DELL).
And Qualcomm (QCOM) $0.70 gain there.
Amgen (AMGN) was up $0.20, tenth in NASDAQ volume.
Pacific Sunwear of California (PSUN) down $1.98, big percentage loss. Second quarter earnings came in at $0.06, down from $0.13 last year and the company cut its second half outlook. That hurt as well.
And finally we see Akamai Technologies (AKAM) rising $1.08. Takeover speculation making the rounds, nothing specific.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
