Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street's blue chips slumped this morning as investors cashed in on recent gains amid growing concerns about the economy. In a choppy sell-off, the Dow posted a 114-point loss at noon, but the NASDAQ was still up 12 points. That firmness in the tech stocks helped the blue chips trim their losses in mid-afternoon. But word from Wal-Mart that it's suspending its stock buyback program sent the market to the day's lows at the close. The Dow Industrial Average ended off 242.85 points at 8,691.33. The NASDAQ down 24.40 at 1,547.34. Standard & Poor's 500 down 21.03 points at 888.67. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note gained 29/32 to 109 19/32, putting the yield down to 2.65 percent.
Big board volume leader today on 26 1/4 million shares, Citigroup (C) moving up $0.07.
And then Bank of America (BAC) down $0.89.
Ford Motor Co (F) lost $0.15.
General Electric (GE) a $1.10 loss.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) down $2.53. The banking stocks hit by some profit taking after recent gains.
ExxonMobil (XOM) down $1.40.
And Wells Fargo (WFC) fell $2.16.
Pfizer (PFE) a $0.46 loss there.
AT&T (T) down $0.82.
And tenth in volume, Co Vale do Rio (RIO) up $0.16 per share.
Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) closed down $1.75. That hurt the Dow and it traded as low as $54.91. The company is suspending its last $5 billion of a $15 billion stock buyback program initiated in 2007. The company blames poor economic conditions.
Then came Fedex Corp (FDX) tumbling $10.78, traded as low as $62.32. After the close yesterday as we reported, the company cut its 2008 earnings guidance from a high of $5.25 down to $4.75 a share at best or at worst, $3.50 a share. The stock really hard hit today.
And in sympathy, United Parcel (UPS) down $4.11. On top of that, JPMorgan downgraded it from "over weight" to just a "neutral" rating.
Conway (CNW), big trucking firm, down $3.58. Truckers hurt by the slowing economy too. This company cut its 2008 earnings guidance of $2.80 at the high end down to $2.35 at best and Merrill Lynch repeated an "under perform" rating.
Let's have a look at some of the other trucking stocks. They were hard hit today, Arkansas Best (ABFS), JB Hunt Transport Services (JBHT), Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL) and YRC Worldwide (YRCW) all on the downside, although YRC made a nice comeback.
Exco Resources (XCO), look at that percentage gain, 27 1/2 percent. The company has completed its first horizontal well in its Haynesville field in Louisiana.
And a company also working in that area, Petrohawk Energy (HK) up $2.48. It put three additional of its Haynesville shale wells into production at a very strong rate.
Autozone (AZO), the auto parts retailer, up $8.01, higher first quarter earnings, $2.23 versus $2.02 a year ago and that was $0.05 better than the Street was expecting. Total sales up 1.6 percent.
Another auto parts retailer didn't do too well, Pep Boys (PBY) off $1.30. The company had a third quarter loss of $0.14 a share, not as bad as the $0.54 loss a year ago, but the Street thought the company could break even or even post a penny in earnings, didn't happen.
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list, up $0.34. That's the first time it's closed above $100 a share since early November.
Google (GOOG) up $3.86.
And then came Microsoft (MSFT) $0.41 loss.
Intel (INTC) $0.36 gain.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) down $0.09.
Research in Motion (RIMM) off $1.64.
Baidu.com (BIDU) fell $8.59.
Oracle (ORCL) a dime loss.
And Dryships (DRYS) up another $2.28 after jumping $2.42 yesterday on a wave of bottom fishing in the dry bulk carrier sector.
Amazon.com (AMZN) down $0.16 a share, tenth in volume.
Yahoo! (YHOO) down a penny at the close. The company after the close announced, reportedly announced that it's going to lay off 1500 workers. That announcement may come tomorrow.
Then Broadcom (BRCM) up $1.08 and that's despite the company's cutting fourth quarter revenue guidance, but Pacific Crest brokerage sees the company emerging as a stronger competitor in the semiconductor industry.
And then Electronic Arts (ERTS) closed down $2.52. After the close, the company warned its 2000 revenues and earnings will fall short of already low forecasts due to disappointing video game sales for the holiday both in North America and Europe. In after hours trading, it dropped as low as $17.50 a share.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
