Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Oil prices continued their decline today, falling another 5 percent as the Energy Information Agency said it now sees global demand staying virtually flat next year. In New York trading, December crude futures tumbled $3.17 to $56.16 a barrel. The EIA projected a negligible increase in world oil demand today and pointed to sharp declines in economies around the globe as the reason. Meanwhile, some analysts don't see a material rebound in oil prices until next year. Well that drop in oil prices couldn't lift Wall Street. Stocks opened broadly lower under the cloud of growing recessionary fears and an earnings warning from Best Buy. In a steady sell-off, the Dow fell 255 points by noontime with the NASDAQ off 43 points. Stocks extended their losses through the afternoon amid growing criticism of the government's revised rescue plan and the market went on to end at the day's lowest levels. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed off 411.30 points at 8282.66. The NASDAQ Composite tumbled 81.69 points, ending at 1499.21, while the Standard & Poor's 500 was down 46.65 at 852.30. In the bond market, the 10- year note rose 28/32 to 102 26/32, pushing the yield down to 3.65 percent.
Big board volume leader on 31.8 million shares, General Electric (GE) down $1.52. That's the lowest close since December of 1996.
Then Citigroup (C) down $1.16. That's its lowest close since May of 1996.
Bank of America (BAC) fell $1.69.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) down $1.78.
ExxonMobil (XOM) fell $3.72, very active.
General Motors (GM), the only gainer in the Dow 30 index, up $0.16, of course on hopes it'll get government assistance.
Pfizer (PFE) $0.94 drop there.
Procter & Gamble (PG) down $1.97. The consumer-related stocks very weak.
Let's have a look at some other Dow consumer-related stocks. Disney (DIS), Home Depot (HD), Kraft Foods (KFT) and Wal-Mart (WMT) all on the downside.
Then we move along to American International Group (AIG) in the active list, down $0.23.
And National City (NCC) a $0.20 loss there, tenth in volume.
American Express (AXP) was down $2.35. The "Wall Street Journal" reports the company is seeking $3.5 billion in taxpayer funds from the Federal government.
Macy's (M) down $1.04. Third quarter loss of $0.08 a share, not as bad as the $0.19 per share loss that the Street was expecting, but same store sales were down 6 percent.
Scotts Miracle Gro (SMG), a good gainer, up $3.07. The company's in talks with several of its large retailer partners to provide private label lawn fertilizers next year and this occurred after a major rival, namely Spectrum Brands, decided to exit that business, so up went that one.
AK Steel Holding (AKS) down $2.58. The company will idle steel plants in Ohio and Kentucky until mid-January because of the major downturn in product demand.
That hurt some of the other steels such as Arcelormittal SA (MT) down $3.10. It's also cutting production a bit.
Nucor (NUE) down $3.61.
And a $5 loss in U.S. Steel (X).
Prologis (PLD), this is a real estate investment trust that owns warehouses, down $2.40. Its chairman and CEO Jeffrey Schwartz has resigned. The company's cutting its proposed $2.28 annual dividend all the way down to $1 even.
Hutchison Telecommunications (HTX) up $2.60. The Hong Kong communications company says total user base grew to $11.2 million in the third quarter and it declared a special dividend of $7 Hong Kong dollars per share.
And then another retail stock on the downside, Whirlpool (WHR) losing $3.53 a share.
Apple (AAPL) topped the NASDAQ active list, down $4.65.
And Google (GOOG) tumbled $20.46. That's the first time Google's closed below $300 since late 2005. Citigroup cut its fourth quarter earnings due to dwindling fourth quarter online advertising revenue growth.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.90 drop there.
$0.41 loss in Intel (INTC). In after hours, after that bad news on revenues, the stock I saw as low as $12.51.
Then Qualcomm (QCOM) down $2.50 a share, fifth in NASDAQ volume.
Research in Motion (RIMM) down $2.69.
$0.63 loss in Cisco Systems (CSCO).
Peoples United Financial (PBCT) dropped a nickel.
Oracle (ORCL) losing $0.82.
And First Solar (FSLR) off $20.84.
And finally, UAL Corp. (UAUA), parent of United Airlines, plunged $3.50. Calyon Securities noted that the airlines have detached themselves from lower oil prices and are focusing instead on declining passenger demand.
