Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Thursday, October 09, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Well, so much for Wall Street's opening rally. Stocks ended the day with a stunning sell-off. The Dow rose 50 points at the open on IBM's (IBM) better-than-expected earnings, which we told you about last night. But traders were clearly disappointed that there were no signs that the credit crunch was easing. So they increasingly turned to the sell side. Then in the final hour of trading, some huge program sell orders sent the market careening to the day's lowest levels. The Dow Industrial Average plummeted 678.91 points to close at 8,579.19. The NASDAQ Composite plunged 95.21 to 1,645.12. Standard & Poor's 500 tumbled 75.02, ending at 909.92. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note slid 1 3/32 to 101 23/32, putting the yield at 3.79 percent.
New York Exchange volume leader on 41.75 million shares, American International Group (AIG), down $0.80. The company has received an additional $37.8 billion loan from the Fed to bolster its liquidity.
Citigroup (C) down $1.47. After the close, Citigroup said it has ended talks with Wells Fargo (WFC) on doing a transaction involving Wachovia (WB). But Citigroup said it will not ask that a Wells Fargo-Wachovia deal be enjoined. But you had better believe there is going to be a lot of litigation following all of this.
General Electric (GE) down $1.64. Earnings due out tomorrow.
Bank of America (BAC) fell $2.47.
And then Ford Motor (F) a $0.58 loss. A J.D. Power analyst says global auto markets are -- in 2009 may be experiencing outright collapse. Standard & Poor's warned that it may cut Ford's debt rating deeper into junk territory because of the deteriorating outlook.
Moving along on the active list, Pfizer (PFE) down $1.46.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) lost $2.62.
Exxon Mobil (XOM), a $9 drop. That really hurt the Dow.
MetLife (MET) bucked the trend with a $1 gain. The story there, the company reportedly approached recently, Hartford Financial (HIG), about a merger. But Hartford stock tumbled $4.75.
And then Wells Fargo Bank (WFC) itself down $4.65.
Morgan Stanley (MS) fell $4.35. The company says Mitsubishi's (MTU) purchase of a 20 percent stake is going to happen despite speculation that it won't. Also the lifting of a ban on short-selling in a lot of the financial stocks hurt this stock and a lot the others in the group.
General Motors (GM) down $2.15. That's the lowest close since 1950. The company's European sales were down 1.9 percent since the year began. Standard & Poor's warned of a possible debt downgrade here, just like it did on Ford (F).
IBM (IBM) down $1.55. It was as high as $95.20 earlier in the day. After the close yesterday, as we reported, the company surprised Wall Street by recording third-quarter earnings earlier than expected. And they were good. Third quarter, $2.05, $0.04 above the Street estimate. Today Goldman Sachs and Citigroup repeated buy recommendations on Big Blue.
Huntsman Corporation (HUN) up $2.56. Hexion Chemical got $540 million from Apollo Management to help in closing its merger with Huntsman.
Prudential Financial (PRU) tumbling $10.02. The life insurance sector very weak today on concern that companies involved may have more exposure to mortgage-backed securities than previously thought. Let's have a look at some others in the sector, and they were major losers: Lincoln National (LNC), Manulife, (MFC), Phoenix (PNX), and Sun Life Financial (SLF), all down substantially.
NASDAQ's most active, Apple Computer (AAPL), down $1.05.
And then Microsoft (MSFT) with a $0.71 loss.
Google (GOOG) fell $9.13. Soleil Securities downgraded Google from buy to a hold.
Research In Motion (RIMM) moving up $1.43. There is speculation the stock's recent tumble might attract a buyout bid from Microsoft (MSFT)
Cisco Systems (CSCO) off $1.15.
Intel (INTC), a $0.65 loss there.
Qualcomm (QCOM) down $1.39.
CME Group (CME) tumbled over $50 a share.
Oracle (ORCL) down $0.67.
And then Comcast (CMCSA), a $0.68 drop there.
Amazon.com (AMZN) fell $5.02. Stifel Financial cut its price target from $99 to $76 a share. And those are the "Stocks in the News" tonight.
