Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
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JEFF YASTINE: A bigger than expected quarterly loss at Morgan Stanley set the tone for trading on Wall Street today. The Dow fell about 140 points at the opening bell and while stocks were mixed through the midday period, another round of selling kicked in during the final hour of the session. The Dow went on to close off almost 100 points at 8824.34. The NASDAQ losing 10.58 to 1579.31 and the S&P 500 falling 8.76 to 904.42. And another gain in Treasury prices as investors sought whatever yield they could get after yesterday's Fed decision. The 10-year note gaining 18/32 to 113 23/32, putting the yield at 2.20 percent.
ExxonMobil was among the big board's most actives and we'll see it as we take a look at our stocks in the news tonight. The financials leading the way lower today, Citigroup (C) off $0.40. Reuters report last night said Citigroup would combine its corporate and investment banking to streamline the firm and lower costs.
General Electric (GE) down $0.53.
Bank of America (BAC) losing $0.48.
ExxonMobil (XOM) tumbling more than $2 on that $3.50 drop in oil prices we told you about a moment ago.
Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) going the other way, up a little over $0.20.
Compania Vale (RIO) losing $0.64.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) dropping $0.49.
Petrobras (PBR) falling $1.15.
Pfizer (PFE) off $0.11.
And so did AT&T (T).
Then we have Nike (NKE) which rose $1, but after the close, the footwear company announced second quarter earnings which beat analyst estimates, at the same time noting a dip in future orders in its domestic and international operations and it fell after the bell.
Morgan Stanley (MS) rising $0.37. It reported a bigger than expected loss of $2.34 a share. The stock recovered into the close. Lindburg Fallman's (ph) Dick Bove sees huge charge offs subsiding and eventually leading to moderate recovery.
Macy's (M) ring up a decent gain of $1.54. The retailer able to get its $2 billion credit facility changed. That makes it easier for them to pay down nearly $1 billion in debt.
Constellation Energy (CEG) tumbling more than $5. It's selling over half of their nuclear power units to EDF. That's a French nuclear power firm. Constellation hopes that will fend off a takeover from Mid-American Energy and Constellation also cutting their dividend.
And speaking of that, Honda Motor Co (HMC) spinning lower, falling $1.21. They're also cutting their dividend along with automobile production. They see a loss in the second half of the fiscal year.
And yesterday we told you about India's Satyam Computer Services (SAY). Well, the company was heavily criticized for pursing deals to buy two construction firms and Satyam today reversing course. They've scrapped those acquisition efforts.
Shares in Newell Rubbermaid (NWL) tumbled $3.60. The company sharply cutting its fourth quarter guidance and will lay off about 10 percent of its workforce.
Deutsche Bank (DB) falling more than $4. They were supposed to buy ABN Amro's commercial banking assets. That was to settle antitrust worries on a merger between ABN Amro and (INAUDIBLE). Well that deal is dead and so now is ABN Amro's commercial banking sales to Deutsche Bank.
Over to the NASDAQ where we have Apple (AAPL) climbing more than $6. CNN carried an interesting article on whether Apple is ending its association with Mac World because it just doesn't have much really exciting to tell anyone about. They also speculating on whether Apple has finally run out of gee whiz ideas for new hardware and software products.
Google (GOOG) dropping more than $10.
Microsoft (MSFT) losing $0.45.
First Solar (FSLR) gaining more than $15, no specific news there.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) losing $0.58.
Intel (INTC) losing $0.38.
Research in Motion (RIMM) a gainer for today.
Qualcomm (QCOM) goes down nearly $1.
Baidu.com (BIDU) up $3.50.
Oracle (ORCL) losing $0.53.
Dynavax Technologies (DVAX) soaring more than six fold. The drug research firm with a $10 million cash deal with Glaxo which will get access to drug discoveries of theirs on auto immune and inflammatory diseases.
And on the downside, Gibraltar Industries (ROCK) tumbling $3.60. Piper Jaffrey downgraded the building products maker to "sell" noting deteriorating conditions in the company's key markets.
