Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Friday, October 17, 2008
|
|
|
|
PAUL KANGAS: Profit taking from yesterday's rally got Wall Street off to a rather weak start with the Dow losing 250 points at the outset of trading, but by mid-session the blue chips were in the black and the rebound attracted more buying this afternoon. At 2:00 p.m., the Dow was up 250 points, but then it ran into aggressive selling linked to expiring futures and options. So the Dow Industrial Average closed down 127.04 points at 8852.22. This week, it rose twice and fell three times but still had a net gain of 401.03 points overall. NASDAQ today down 6.42 ending at 1711.28. It also rose twice and fell three times for a weekly net gain of 61.78. Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 5.88, closing at 940.55 today, but for the week, the index jumped 41.33 points. In the bond market, the 10-year note gained 9/32 to par and 17/32, putting the yield at 3.94 percent.
Most active big board issue trading 29 million shares today, General Electric (GE) down $0.26.
Followed by Bank of America (BAC) up $1.02.
Citigroup (C) was down $1.02.
And then American Intl Group (AIG) losing $0.33.
Pfizer (PFE) was down $0.06. The company did settle lawsuits regarding its Bextra (ph) and Celebrex drugs, price, $894 million with claims coming in 33 different states.
ExxonMobil (XOM) fell $1.41.
AT&T (T) $0.17 drop.
Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) fell $1.84.
Then Sprint Nextel (S) $0.27 loss.
Tenth in volume, Co Vale do Rio (RIO) down or I should say up $0.64.
Honeywell International (HON) lost $1.56 despite higher third quarter earnings of $0.97 versus $0.81 a year ago. Revenues up 6.2 percent, but Standard & Poor's said it sees slowing growth for the company ahead. That hurt the stock a bit.
Schlumberger ltd (SLB), the oil service company, down $3.21. Third quarter earnings jumped to $1.25 from $1.09 last year. Revenues jumped 22 percent, but Schlumberger CEO said North American, the North American (INAUDIBLE) account will drop quite a lot as he put it in 2009.
Capital One Financial (COF) up $1.22. Third quarter earnings $1.03, down from $2.09 last year, but $0.10 better than expected. Revenues did drop 7.2 percent, but the company said its credit performance is in line with expectations.
A major loss in Ing Group ADR (ING), losing $4.05. Merrill Lynch cut its price target from $18 a share to $13.50 despite what it said is an attractive valuation, but the company is bracing for its first quarterly loss ever and there is concern that the infusion of cash by the Dutch government could dilute the company's earnings.
Comstock Resources (CRK) gained $3.02. That stock is going to be added to the Standard & Poor's 500, let's make it 400 mid cap index next Tuesday, so there was some index fund buying today on Comstock.
Libbey (LBY) down $1.85. The glass tableware manufacturer got a downgrade from the CO King brokerage from "accumulate" down to "neutral."
And Leggett & Platt (LEG), which does residential furnishings had earnings that were lower third quarter, $0.34 down from $0.36 and the company sees 2008 earnings of $1 to $1.15 and sales dropping 3 percent.
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) moved up $6.26. The Fox Pitt brokerage upgraded it from "in line" to "out perform" on a valuation basis.
And Badger Meter (BMI) rebounding $1.08 after tumbling over $9 yesterday on flat third quarter earnings, but today, the Baird brokerage upgraded it from "under perform" to "out perform."
NASDAQ's most active Apple (AAPL) down $4.49.
But Google (GOOG) jumped $19.52 and traded as high as $386 a share. Standard & Poor's issued a "strong buy" on Google after yesterday's better than expected third quarter earnings of $4.92 a share.
Microsoft (MSFT) down $0.26.
Research in Motion (RIMM) fell $0.23.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) bucking the trend with a $0.16 gain.
Intel (INTC) $0.38 loss.
Qualcomm (QCOM) $0.86 gain.
Baidu.com (BIDU) $13.22 advance.
Gilead Sciences (GILD) up $1.64.
And then Oracle (ORCL) with a $0.03 gain, tenth in volume.
The Nasdaq OMX Group (NDAQ) stock was up $2.90. It's going to be added to the Standard & Poor's 500 Index after the close next Tuesday. It'll replace Dillard department stores.
And Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) plunging $25.67 despite third quarter earnings of $1.44, way up from $1.04 last year and $0.23 above the Street estimate, but the stock apparently weak on growing concern that hospitals will have a hard time borrowing in this credit climate.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
