Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street opened lower as wary investors took some money off the table on concern the rescue plan still had some strong headwinds to overcome. By 11 a.m., the Dow was off 177 points and the NASDAQ down 39 points. Selling pressures eased over the next few hours as the Senate appeared poised to pass a rescue plan. A sharp drop in oil prices also helped the market trim its closing losses. The Dow Industrial Average ended off 19.59 at 10,831.07. The NASDAQ Composite was down 22.48 at 2,069.40. Standard & Poor's 500 fell only 5.30, ending at 1,161.06. In the bond market, the 10-year note rose 20/32, to 102 2/32, putting the yield at 3.75 percent.
Big Board volume leader on 14.8 million shares, National City (NCC), a nice move up, $1.14, good percentage. Approval of the $700 billion rescue plan would ease the pressures on the company's mortgage portfolio. Wachovia (WB) in there with a $0.05 gain.
And then GE (GE) closing down a dollar, despite Warren Buffett's buying $3 billion in preferred stock. But the company also plans to offer $12 billion in common stock. Deutsche Bank cut 2008 earnings estimates by 9 percent, down to $2 a share, and cut 2009 earnings down $1.95.
Citigroup (C) up $2.49. Good performance there.
Pfizer (PFE), a $0.50 gain.
And moving along on the active list, American International Group (AIG) gained $0.62. Former CEO Hank Greenberg asked the present CEO of AIG for a chance to bid on any assets the company plans to sell.
Bank of America (BAC) up $3.13.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) did well, up $2.93.
Sprint Nextel (S), a $0.44 gain. And Exxon Mobil (XOM) was up $0.92, even though oil was down $2.11 in the November contract in New York to $98.52 a barrel.
Looking at some of the other oil stocks, they were weak: Conoco (COP), Hess (HES), Marathon (MRO), Occidental (OXY); and Valero Energy (VLO), the refining company, down $1.02. But Northwest Airlines (NWA) moved up $1.47 after the company said it can be profitable with crude oil around the $100 a barrel level, which it's below now. That helped the airlines in general.
Federal Agricultural Mortgage (AGM) up $2.69. The company received a $65 million investment from a group of banks in the form of non-voting preferred stock.
Actuant Corporation (ATU) down $3.27. Fourth-quarter earnings $0.54 versus $0.50 a year ago, but the company first-quarter dropping to $0.48 to $0.52. The Street estimate is at $0.56.
NASDAQ's most active, Apple (AAPL), down $4.54.
Google (GOOG) was up $7.74. The company unveiled a $4.4 trillion plan to cut U.S. dependence on fossil fuels for electricity generation and go instead to nuclear, wind, and geothermal sources.
Microsoft (MSFT) down $0.21.
Research In Motion (RIMM) fell $1.37.
Intel (INTC) down $0.21.
Cisco (CSCO), a $0.61 loss there.
Qualcomm (QCOM) fell $1.45.
But First Solar (FSLR) moving up $8.35.
Amazon.com (AMZN), a $3.18 loss.
And then 10th in volume was Oracle (ORCL), down $0.45.
And finally, ImClone Systems (IMCL) rose $2.95 on a Wall Street Journal report that Eli Lilly (LLY) is in talks to acquire the company for about $70 a share.
