Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Friday, October 31, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Stocks on Wall Street opened the day mixed but didn't end that way. The Dow was up 43 points at the outset of trading while the NASDAQ fell 10 points. Then stocks churned about in a narrow range for the next few hours, but by the afternoon buyers were encouraged by the absence of profit taking. The Dow was up 230 points at 3:00 p.m. But then some pre- weekend caution pared those gains a bit. The Dow Industrial Average closed up 144.32 points at 9325.01. This week it fell twice and rose three times and had a net gain of 946.06 points. The NASDAQ Composite rose 22.43 to 1720.95 today. This week, it fell only once and advanced 168.92 points overall. Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 14.66 to 968.75 today and for the week, it was up 91.98 points overall. Over in the bond market, the 10- year note lost 1/32 to par and 8/32, putting the yield at 3.97 percent.
Most active big board issue on 48 1/4 million shares, National City (NCC) up $0.30. It's being taken over for stock by PNC Financial whose stock went up $2.26, hence the gain in National City.
Bank of America (BAC) $1.39 advance.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) rose $3.63. The company is making changes to about $110 billion in mortgages to help borrowers avoid foreclosure.
Wachovia (WB) was up $0.50.
And then General Electric (GE) with a $0.16 gain.
Citigroup (C) down, up $0.54.
AT&T (T) was down $0.33.
And then ExxonMobil (XOM) a $0.93 loss. It traded as high as $77.35 today. Of course yesterday as we reported, the company had a record third quarter earnings of $14.8 billion, the most in any quarter for any corporation.
Pfizer (PFE) down $0.15.
And then Wells Fargo (WFC), tenth in volume, moved up $2.21.
Moving along, we saw a decent gain in Procter & Gamble (PG) of $1.46. As we reported Wednesday, the company had higher first quarter earnings of $1.03 versus $0.92 and the company is in the process of merging its Folgers coffee business with Smuckers.
And speaking of Smuckers, JM Smucker (SJM) that stock was up $1.08 today. The stock will be added to the Standard & Poor's 500 Index replacing Terex Corporation.
Cigna (CI), the big insurance firm, up $0.72, traded as high as $18.08 earlier today after the company reaffirmed its strong capital position and said it had no need to issue equity.
Sonic Automotive (SAH), big percentage move, up over 40 percent after JPMorgan upgraded it from "under weight" to a "neutral" recommendation.
Las Vegas Sands (LVS) up $3.81. The Singapore tourist board is working closely with a company to ensure a successful completion of its casino resort in Singapore.
Carnival Corp (CCL), the big cruise line, up - down $3.31. The company is suspending its cash dividend of $1.60 a year for the year of 2009 in an effort to preserve cash and not have to tap the capital market.
Cummins (CMI), the diesel engine maker, down $5.83. Third quarter earnings came in at $1.17, $0.02 below the Street estimate, but up $0.92 from last year. The company did cut its revenue growth forecast. That hurt the stock.
Commscope (CTV) losing $5.48. Third quarter earnings, $1.05 up from $0.81 but the Baird brokerage downgraded it to "neutral" because of the company's rather guarded outlook.
And Best Buy Co (BBY) up $2.20. JPMorgan upgraded it from "under weight" to "neutral" because of an improved risk reward ratio according to JPMorgan Chase.
Apple (AAPL) topped the NASDAQ actives, down $3.45.
Google (GOOG) a $0.33 drop.
Microsoft (MSFT) off $0.30.
But Research in Motion (RIMM) moving up $3.04.
Intel (INTC) a $0.14 drop there.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a $0.02 loss.
Qualcomm (QCOM) off $1.46.
Oracle (ORCL) was off $0.03.
First Solar (FSLR), which had big earnings out yesterday, down $0.37.
And Amgen (AMGN) $0.64 loss there.
Electronic Arts (ERTS) down $4.95. The video game publisher had a second quarter loss of $0.06 a share versus earnings of $0.27 a year ago and it is cutting 6 percent of its workforce.
And then Wynn Resorts (WYNN) up $13.90. After the close yesterday, third quarter earnings excluding items came in at $0.62, down from $0.67 last year, but $0.03 above the Wall Street estimate and a nice gain in the stock as a result.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
