Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Thursday, December 04, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street was on the defensive this morning as big job cuts at AT&T and Dupont overshadowed interest rates cuts abroad. Selling was also prompted by generally very weak November retail sales. By midday, the Dow posted a 92 point loss with the NASDAQ off 15 points. A mid-afternoon rally attempt was quashed by fears that tomorrow's employment report would be a bad one. Late hedge fund and tax loss also helped send the market sharply lower. The Dow Industrial Average closed down 215.45 points at 8376.24. The NASDAQ Composite lost 46.82 to 1445.56. Standard & Poor's 500 Index off 25.52 at 845.22. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note gained 28/32 to 110 13/32, putting the yield all the way down to 2.56 percent.
The most active big board issue today on 25 million shares, Citigroup (C) losing $0.42.
Bank of America (BAC) down $0.71, a little profit taking after recent gains.
General Electric (GE) fell $0.58.
But JPMorgan Chase (JPM) bucking the trend, up $0.83.
Ford Motor Co (F) down $0.19.
ExxonMobil (XOM) fell $2.66 as oil in New York fell below $44 a barrel.
Republic Services (RSG) was down $0.41, although the Department of Justice approved its acquisition of Allied Waste Industries if certain assets are sold. Allied Waste stock was up $0.14 to $9.97.
Pfizer (PFE) in there with a $0.35 loss.
Time Warner (TWX) bucking the trend, up $0.37.
And then Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) a $0.55 loss.
General Motors (GM) losing 16 percent of its value today, down $0.79. Standard & Poor's repeated a "sell" recommendation in the belief any kind of a bailout will cause dilution of the stock.
AT&T (T) down $0.91. They're going to cut about 12,000 jobs and 4 percent of its workforce, but Standard & Poor's repeated a "strong buy" on AT&T.
Merck & Co (MRK) down $1.46. The company did reaffirm its 2008 earnings guidance at $3.28 to as high as $3.32, but it says 2009 earnings will drop a bit to $3.15 to $3.30 a share at best.
Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) edging up $0.73, traded as high as $56.20 today after reporting November same store sales were up a better than expected 3.4 percent.
JCPenney Co (JCP) up $1.38, although its November same store sales were down 11.9 percent, but that was in line with the company's guidance so no unpleasant surprise.
Buckle (BKE), this is an apparel retailer, doing very well, up $2.89. The company had a 15 percent rise in November same store sales and Standard & Poor's repeated a "buy" recommendation.
Collective Brands (PSS) up $1.94. This company used to be called Payless Shoe Source. Today third quarter earnings, $0.75, way up from $0.39 last year.
Mattel (MAT) did well, edging up $0.66. A Federal judge has permanently barred its rival MGA Entertainment from making and selling brats dolls.
Movado Group (MOV), this is the watch company, down $2.15. It slashed its full year earnings guidance after reporting third quarter earnings of $0.53. The Street was expecting $0.78. Sadatti (ph) and Company brokerage downgraded the stock from "buy" to just "neutral."
Home builder Toll Brothers (TOL) up $1.32. It narrowed its fourth quarter loss to $0.49 in the red from $0.52 last year and of course, falling mortgage rates are a positive for the home builders.
Very weak group, the oil and gas exploration companies like Plains Exploration & Production (PXP) down $3.97. January New York crude down $3.12 to $43.67 a barrel.
Apple (AAPL) topped the NASDAQ's active list, down $4.49. Piper Jaffray cut 2009 and '10 earnings estimates on Apple.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.76 loss there.
Google (GOOG) down $5.09.
But Amazon.com (AMZN) up $2.11. Barclay's upgraded it from "equal weight" to "over weight."
Cisco Systems (CSCO) down $0.68, fifth in NASDAQ volume.
Intel (INTC) an $0.89 loss.
Research in Motion (RIMM) down $1.76.
Oracle (ORCL) fell $0.69.
First Solar (FSLR) down $11.72.
And Qualcomm (QCOM) with a $0.22 loss.
Adobe Systems (ADBE) fell $2.10. The company issued a cautious outlook and said it's going to cut 600 of its jobs. That's 8 percent of the workforce.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
