Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Friday, December 12, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: An early sell-off greeted Wall Street after the Senate rejected the auto rescue bill and investors learned of a massive alleged fraud by broker Bernard Madoff. We'll have more about that fraud in a moment. The Dow tumbled at the opening, but the selling really wasn't as bad as feared. An hour into trading, the Dow was down 130, but the NASDAQ off just 5 points. That relative firmness in technology stocks helped the blue chips come back around midday as did word from the White House it was considering news loans to the auto makers, so by the close the market was solidly in the black. The Dow Industrial Average ended up 64.59 points at 8629.68. This week, it fell twice, rose three times, but had a net loss of 5.74 points. The NASDAQ Composite gained 32.84 points to 1540.72 today. It also retreated twice and advanced three times this week and rose 31.41 points overall. Standard & Poor's 500 Index closed up 6.14 to 879.73 today and for the week, it gained 3.66 points. In the bond market, the 10-year note rose 10/32 to 110 and 8/32 and that put the yield down to 2.57 percent.
Most active New York exchange issue on 28 1/2 million shares, Ford Motor Co (F) moving up $0.14. You've heard the news.
Citigroup (C) a $0.13 gain.
Bank of America (BAC) was a $0.02 advance.
And then General Motors (GM) losing $0.18. It traded as low as $2.61 this morning.
General Electric (GE) in there with a $0.06 gain.
And then JPMorgan Chase (JPM) rose exactly $1.
ExxonMobil (XOM) $0.43 advance.
Pfizer (PFE) a $0.36 gain there.
AT&T (T) was up $0.24. The company's boosting its quarterly dividend by $0.01 to $0.41 a share.
And then Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) with a gain of $0.82.
American Express (AXP) closed up $0.21, but traded as low as $18.33 this morning after Deutsche Bank began coverage of the stock with a "sell." This past Wednesday as you might recall, both Citigroup and Bank America issued "sell" recommendations.
Then Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) moving up $1.06. It's in a joint venture with biotech company Exelixis. They developed two cancer drugs requiring Bristol Myers to pay $240 million up front.
Let's have a look at what happened to Exelixis (EXEL) stock, up $1.22 or 32 3/4 percent. Incidentally, Exelisis means evolution in the Greek language.
Auto parts maker BorgWarner (BWA) down $1.24. The company cut its 2008 earnings guidance from a high of $2.35 to $1.95 at best because of the poor condition of the auto industry.
And then some major construction firms, Chicago Bridge and Iron (CBI) down $1.03. Goldman Sachs downgraded it from "neutral" to "sell," did the same thing with big construction firm Fluor (FLR), which fell $2.50.
And then Jacobs Engineering (JEC) losing $0.92. It traded as low as $42.91 this morning after Goldman Sachs downgraded it from "buy" to "sell."
The oil sector was weak today, also because of Goldman Sachs comment saying 2009 oil prices will average about $45 a barrel. Devon Energy (DVN) and Murphy Oil (MUR) significant losses.
Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) off only $0.61, but it traded as low as $17.28 in the morning.
Waters (WAT) which makes laboratory instruments down $4.67. The company cut its fourth quarter earnings guidance from a high of $1.12 to $0.99 at best and the Baird brokerage downgraded the stock from "out perform" to "neutral."
Then Perkinelmer (PKI) losing exactly $3 after Deutsche Bank downgraded it from "hold" to "sell."
And then Transocean (RIG) losing $1.36. That stock will be removed from the Standard & Poor's 500 Index after the close on December 18th because the company's re-domesticating in Switzerland making it ineligible for the index.
NASDAQ's most active, Apple (AAPL) moving up $3.27.
And Google (GOOG) in the strong high-tech group, up $15.54.
Microsoft (MSFT) didn't participate with a $0.09 loss.
But Intel (INTC) was up $0.74.
And Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.08 gain there.
Qualcomm (QCOM) up $1.33.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up $1.36. RIMM's quarterly earnings are due out next Thursday incidentally.
Oracle (ORCL) and its earnings due out next Thursday as well, up $0.38.
Baidu.com (BIDU) up $2.70.
And Comcast "A" (CMCSA) lost $0.32 a share.
Varian (VARI) down $4.47. The Barclays brokerage downgraded it from "equal weight" to "under weight."
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
