Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street started the day on the downside, but it didn't end that way. The Dow fell 130 points at the outset as recession fears were revived by that tumble in new home sales and the sharp drop in October durable good orders. Growing bailout hopes rallied the auto stocks though and the tech sector joined in to lead a steady rise in the market as stocks went on to post their fourth straight winning session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 247.14 at 8726.61. It's now up 15.5 percent in just the last four trading sessions. The NASDAQ Composite jumped 67.37 points today to 1532.10, while the Standard & Poor's 500 was up 30.29 ending at 887.68. In the bond market, the 10-year note gained 1 3/32 to 106 17/32, putting the yield all the way down to 2.99 percent.
Big board volume leader on 42 1/4 million shares, Citigroup (C) moving up $0.97, good percentage there. Mexican business tycoon Carlos Slim has acquired 26 million shares of Citigroup. That's about $150 million worth.
Then Bank of America (BAC) with a $0.63 gain. The Federal Reserve has approved the company's acquisition of Merrill Lynch.
Ford (F) moving up $0.49. That's a 29 percent rise. Deutsche Bank analysts say the chances for an auto industry bailout are improving.
General Electric (GE) rose $0.42.
ExxonMobil (XOM) up $2.78.
General Motors (GM) gained $1.25 in that strong auto group and Deutsche Bank's comments and also, Bloomberg late today reported GM is studying whether to unload its Pontiac, Saab and Saturn brands.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) $0.85 gain there. The company priced $6 million of notes backed by the FDIC.
Pfizer (PFE) up $0.13.
Wells Fargo (WFC) gained $1.70.
And AT&T (T) up $1.10 a share.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) moved down $0.43, traded as low as $56.42 this morning after the FDA failed to approve the company's new drug application for its treatment for skin infections. The FDA wants more information. That's a kind of a setback.
Fidelity National Financial (FNF) up $2.19, 22 1/2 percent gain. It signed a deal to acquire Land America Financial's two main title insurance companies and other assets for $298 million. Meanwhile, Land America declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Deere (DE) closed up $2.66, but this morning it was as low as $28.87 after fourth quarter earnings came in at $0.81 versus $0.94 last year and that's despite a 21 percent rise in revenues and Wachovia on top of that downgraded it from "out perform" to "market perform."
And other farm equipment company, Agco (AG) off $0.42, traded as low as $20.42. Wachovia downgraded it from "out perform" to "market perform" on the bearish outlook for farm equipment.
The old Bell Canada, BCE (BCE) down $10.65. The deal to take the company private is now in doubt because of market conditions.
CKE Restaurants (CKR) did well, up $1.27. Sun Trust Robinson Humphrey brokerage upgraded it from "neutral" to a "buy" recommendation.
And Thomas & Betts (TNB) losing $1. The company now sees fourth quarter earnings flat with last year's $0.84 due to the downturn in a commercial construction business.
Then Mettler-Toledo (MTD) up $7.58. It'll be added to the Standard & Poor's madcap 400 index after the close next Monday.
And then we see the refining company Holly (HOC) up $2.40. Its stock will be added to the Standard & Poor's small cap 600 index after the close next Monday.
Apple (AAPL) topped the NASDAQ actives up $4.20.
Google (GOOG) up just over $10.
Microsoft (MSFT) a $0.50 gain. A close observer of the company said recent rumors that it's going to launch a smart phone have no basis in fact.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up $3.20.
Intel (INTC) an $0.84 gain there.
Cisco (CSCO) $0.97 advance.
$0.16 rise in Oracle (ORCL).
Baidu.com (BIDU) up $18.72.
First Solar (FSLR) up $10.58.
And Amazon (AMZN) was up $1.77.
And finally, Seachange International (SEAC) rising $1.60 after reporting third quarter earnings today of $0.11 versus $0.11 a year ago, $0.05 above Street estimates. Revenues rose 5.7 percent.
