Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Monday, November 03, 2008
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JEFF YASTINE: And like much of the nation, investors were focused on tomorrow's presidential election, not today's market and that kept stocks in a narrow trading range all day. Investors also weighed a report showing manufacturing activity at its lowest level in 26 years. While the Dow opened up 85 points, it moved to near 50 point loss by mid-afternoon. But the final half hour of trading brought little action, so the Dow went on to close off 5.18 to 9319.83. the NASDAQ rising 5 points to end at 1726.33 and the S&P 500 falling 2.45 to 96.3 (sic). And in the bond market, the 10- year note rising 14/32 to 100 21/32 and the yield at 3.92 percent.
Citigroup (C) gaining $0.34. Credit card losses in the third quarter will mean an additional $1.4 billion loss and Citi sees that climbing further as unemployment rates rise.
American International Group (AIG) gaining $0.23. The "Wall Street Journal" today saying miscalculated risks and complex credit default swaps the reason behind the insurance giant's near collapse.
General Electric (GE) dropping $0.21.
Procter & Gamble (PG) losing $0.14.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) finishing down $0.52.
We have ExxonMobil (XOM) which edged up $0.17. That despite oil prices which fell $3.90 to $63.91 a barrel today.
National City (NCC) losing $0.17.
Bank of America (BAC) dropping more than half a dollar.
Hartford Financial (HIG) up nearly $6. The insurance says its property and insurance units remain well capitalized, about $2 billion in capital, more than enough to maintain the double A credit rating.
Wachovia (WB) losing a fraction.
Then we have AT&T (T) which gained $1.04. The shares in telecom companies all flowing (ph) up on news the FTC is delaying a vote on a new fee structure for telecoms. It would determine the fees they pay to route calls through each other's phone networks.
And a look at some of the others in the group, Embarq (EQ), Frontier Comms (FTR), Qwest Comms (Q), Sprint Nextel (S), Verizon Comms (VZ), all doing nicely although off their highs of the day.
Boeing Co (BA) rising $0.58. Over the weekend, their machinists union signed off on a new four-year contract with health care and pension benefits.
Nucor (NUE) falling $2.68. Falling steel prices and lower growth rates in China may hurt steel demand. Credit Suisse cutting estimates.
Halliburton co (HAL) falling $1.43. Goldman Sachs sees drastic cutbacks in spending for oil exploration and production next year and cautioned against buying into oil service stocks like Halliburton.
Unibanco (UBB) soaring over $6. It's being taken over by a larger rival, Banco Itau. It's an all-stock deal, paring up the number two and number three financial players in Brazil.
Advanced Medical Optics (EYE) rising $1.26. The eye care maker reporting a turnaround in profit last week and Jefferies upgraded the stock today.
And Lydall (LDL) falling $1.29. This is a maker of thermal acoustic products and they say the downturn in the auto industry will hurt sales for them for the foreseeable future.
Now over to the NASDAQ, Apple (AAPL) slipped $0.63. A Friedman Billings Ramsey analyst says Apple is cutting production of its iPhones. IPhone production could drop more than 40 percent from third quarter levels in what they call the negative signal for global demand.
Google (GOOG) falling more than $12. The "Journal" says Yahoo! and Google are revising their advertising partnership deal in hopes of winning antitrust approval.
Microsoft (MSFT) picked up $0.29.
Research in Motion (RIMM) gaining more than $3.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) dropping more than half a dollar.
And we have First Solar (FSLR) rising more than $18.
Intel (INTC) off a fraction.
Qualcomm (QCOM) down $1.06.
Amgen (AMGN) up $1.66.
Gilead Sciences (GILD) up $1.46.
Baidu.com (BIDU), a $200 million stock buyback program there.
Dryships (DRYS) gaining $2.69. Long-term charter contract helping to a 71 percent gain in quarterly profits.
Biogen Idec (BIIB) gaining more than $3. Analysts like the outlook for the company's multiple sclerosis drug Tasavery (ph).
And finally Atricure (ATRC) plunging $2.53. The Justice Department investigating this company from (INAUDIBLE) marketing and questions about Medicare billing codes. Atricure says it's cooperating with the investigation.
