Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Unprecedented volatility: That was the day on Wall Street. Stocks opened sharply higher on that coordinated rate cut, but then sold off sharply as investors realized the credit markets still appear to be frozen. By midday, the Dow had turned its early 200-point gain into a 240-point loss with the NASDAQ Index down 39 points. Afternoon trading brought a nice rally, which had the Dow up 130 points, but a late selling spree pushed stocks broadly lower on the close. The Dow Industrial Average ended down 189.01 points, at 9,258.10. The NASDAQ Composite fell 14.55, ending at 1,740.33. While the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 11.29 at 984.94. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 1 5/32 to 102 29/32, putting the yield at 3.65 percent.
Big Board volume leader on a very active 65 million shares, Bank of America (BAC) down $1.67. It traded as low as $20.01. As we reported, yesterday it sold 455 million common shares at $22 each. And that was well below what the company was hoping for.
Citigroup (C) down $0.75. The company, Wells Fargo (WFC), and Wachovia (WB), have agreed to extend their litigation standstill until early Friday.
General Electric (GE) in there with a gain of $0.35.
And then Pfizer (PFE) down $0.52.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) dropped $0.02 a share.
Exxon Mobil (XOM) up $0.93, even though oil dropped about a dollar a barrel.
Ford Motor (F) down $0.26. Citigroup downgraded it from hold to sell and did the same downgrade for GM (GM), which fell $0.65 to $6.91.
Merrill Lynch (MER), a $0.02 drop there.
Companhia Vale (RIO) up $0.25.
And PetroBras (PBRa) a $0.35 loss, 10th in volume.
Here's a surprise, IBM (IBM), the tech giant, just released preliminary third-quarter results, earnings rose 22 percent to $2.05 a share. That's $0.04 better than estimates. IBM also reaffirmed its full-year guidance of at least $8.75 a share. The stock was above $94 a share in after-hours trading. What a move.
Then Alcoa (AA), another Dow stock, down $2. Yesterday, as we reported, third-quarter earnings tumbled 52 percent on a 5.3 percent drop in sales. And the company suspended its stock buyback program as well.
Bank of New York Mellon (BK) up $1.79. It's in a pact with JPMorgan to buy all outstanding shares of JPMorgan Trust Bank Limited in Japan. Positive reaction to that.
Monsanto (MON) up $7.26. The company had a fourth-quarter loss of $0.03. Fourth quarter is seasonally its poorest quarter, but that was nowhere near as bad as last year's $0.18 per share loss. A better bet at $0.01 better than expected this year. Sales were up 35 percent at a record high.
And gold was the star today, rising $24.50 to $906.50 an ounce. And look at these gold stocks doing well: Harmony (HMY), Gold Fields (GFI), Barrick (ABX), Kinross (KGC), and Goldcorp (GG) all substantial gainers.
Downside was MetLife (MET), down -- losing $9.87. The company sees third- quarter earnings of $0.83 to $0.93 a share, well below the Wall Street estimate of $1.44. It also plans a 75 million share offering of common stock. And it has pulled the 2008 earnings guidance.
The whole insurance sector very weak today. Let's have a look at some other stocks in that group: XL Capital (XL), Protective Life (PL), Principal Financial (PFG), and Allstate (ALL), substantial losses there.
Hasbro (HAS) moved up $1.29. The Needham brokerage upgraded it from hold to buy on optimism its "G.I. Joe" and "Transformers 2" lines will be big sellers.
And another stock on the upside, LDK Solar (LDK), rose $2.16 after the company boosted its third-quarter revenue guidance from a high of $496 million to as much as $540 million.
Apple (AAPL) topped the NASDAQ active list, up $0.63.
And Google (GOOG) losing $7.90.
Microsoft (MSFT), a $0.22 loss there.
Research In Motion (RIMM) gained $2.55. The Cannacord brokerage upgraded its recommendation on RIMM from hold to a buy.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) lost a half a dollar.
Intel (INTC), a $0.23 gain.
Qualcomm (QCOM) did well, up a $1.89.
Oracle (ORCL), a $0.10 gainer.
First Solar (FSLR) down $0.57.
And Amazon.com (AMZN) was up $2.50.
And finally, shares in YRC Worldwide (YRCW) jumped $1.34 after its CEO affirmed the trucking giant's financial stability and expressed confidence in meeting loan covenants.
