Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
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JEFF YASTINE: The latest batch of earnings had investors hitting the sell button at the open. The Dow dropped 250 points in the first half of the session on Dupont's lowered profit forecast and Caterpillar's weaker results. While we saw a bit of a relief rally cut those losses around midday, the selling gained steam in the final hour of trading and stocks ended near their lows of the day. The Dow fell 231.77 to 9,033.66 and the NASDAQ dropped to 73.35 points to finish at 1,696. And then the S&P 500 losing 30 to end at 955.05. And in the bond market, the 10-year note gaining a full point to 102 3/32 and the yield at 3.74 percent.
Citigroup (C) dropping $0.91. Some analysts don't see a profit reported by Citi until the second half of next year.
And then National City (NCC) rising $0.07. The bank reported a large third quarter loss nearly triple what analysts predicted. National City will also cut about 14 percent of its workforce, about 4,000 people.
General Electric (GE) rising $0.21.
And there's Pfizer (PFE) holding steady as Susie mentioned with better than expected results, strong international sales.
Bank of America (BAC) dropping $0.43.
Dupont Co (DD) taking a hit, down $2.50. Third quarter earnings soared 30 percent because of weakness in the U.S. and Europe.
And then Caterpillar (CAT) another blue chip, off $1.24. Third quarter profits missed estimates by two pennies and Caterpillar did not get guidance on 2009 results because it expects a global recession.
3M (MMM) though climbing $2.50. One of the bright spots, one of the few of them for the Dow with stronger than expected third quarter profits thanks to eye-catching growth in nearly all of its business unit. There's always a need it seems for Scotch tape and Post-It notes.
Then American Express Co (AXP) logged a gain after last night's stronger than expected profits. Moody's though is cutting American Express debt rating because of concerns about credit card losses in coming quarters.
Texas Instrument (TXN) shares trounced down $1.13 as analysts cut their price targets following last night's disappointing results and sales .
And then Lockheed Martin (LMT) falling $9.03, nervousness over rising pension costs and potential cutbacks in defense spending next year sent shares in Lockheed spiraling lower. Management initially sees 2009 earnings missing analyst estimates by at least $0.50 a share.
Some other defense contractors doing poorly today, Boeing (BA), General Dynamics (GD), Northrop Grumman (NOC), all down significantly, all reporting earnings tomorrow.
Blackrock (BLK) off, excuse me, off over $13. The flight out of money market funds drained $169 billion from Blackrock's assets under management and that meant a huge 15 percent drop in third quarter earnings.
Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold (FCX) sliding nearly $4. (INAUDIBLE) lowered its 2008 sales target. Gold prices down nearly $23 an ounce today, near the September lows.
And then Co Vale do Rio (RIO) off $0.39. The (INAUDIBLE) producer says it expects the global economy to slow in the market ahead, but will spend $14 billion next year to expand its mining operations around the world.
Western Union (WU) dropping more than $3. Third quarter profits less than expected inside the weakness in China and Europe for money transfer services.
And after the close, VMWare (VMW) ended down $1.91, but rose as high as $23.50 on an earnings surprise. Third quarter earnings weighing in at $0.24 a share. That was $0.04 above estimates.
Over on the NASDAQ, there's Apple (AAPL) falling almost $7 but up about $2 in after hours trading on those better than expected results.
Microsoft (MSFT) down $1.36.
Google (GOOG) off $16.50. Some investors think the advertising deal between Goggle and Yahoo! may unravel because of continued delays over antitrust approvals.
Research in Motion (RIMM) down more than $3. A Citigroup analyst says lack of uncertainty regarding the company's product and sales volumes going into the holiday period.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) down $1.10.
Then UAL Corp (UAUA) up $1.13, a nice boost after the company reported a quarterly loss that was not as bad as investors feared. That loss due to record high prices on jet fuel back in July and then losses on the fuel hedges as energy prices plummeted during the rest of the quarter.
And finally, Sun Microsystems (JAVA) off $1.01. More disappointment after Sun lowered its profit forecast the other day. And those are our stocks in the news tonight.
