Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Monday, December 22, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street began this abbreviated trading week on a mixed note which turned mostly lower after a brokerage downgrade on General Motors stock and Toyota's bleak forecast, which we'll detail shortly. Also, disappointing earnings from Walgreen's helping to send the Dow to a 74 point loss by midday with the NASDAQ off 36 points. The sell-off accelerated this afternoon, sending the Dow off over 150 points until a late rally trimmed the deficit. The Dow Industrial Average closed down 59.42 points at 8519.69. The NASDAQ Composite down 31.97 at 1532.35. Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 16 1/4 points exactly to 871.63. In the bond market, the 10-year note lost 13/32 to 113 31/32, putting the yield at 2.17 percent.
Big board volume leader on 25.1 million shares Citigroup (C) down $0.27.
As was the case with Bank of America (BAC).
General Electric (GE) dropping $0.43.
And then Barr Pharmaceuticals (BRL) off $1.19. Teva Pharmaceutical will close tomorrow on the acquisition of Barr at $66.50 a share in cash and stock.
Moving along with ExxonMobil (XOM) down $0.11, lower oil prices today.
Ford Motor Co (F) dropped $0.36.
But McAfee (MFE) was up $0.41. McAfee stock will replace Barr Pharmaceutical in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.
Pfizer (PFE) $0.12 loss there.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) dropped a half a dollar.
And Dynegy (DYN), tenth in volume, was a $0.09 gainer.
General Motors (GM) losing almost 22 percent of its value today, down $0.97. Credit Suisse brokerage downgraded it from "neutral" to "under perform."
And then Toyota Motor (TM) down $3.50, a little over 5 percent. As you heard, the company's forecasting a loss in its current fiscal year and Standard & Poor's today repeated a "sell" recommendation on Toyota.
Caterpillar (CAT) itself down $0.91. As you heard, it's going to slash executive pay by up to 50 percent next year and has that freeze on new hires.
Walgreen Co (WAG) down $1.10, disappointing first quarter earnings, which fell 10 percent from last year, $0.41 versus $0.46 then and that was a nickel below the Street consensus. The company cited costs of opening 200 new stores, so as a result of that, it's cutting back on its expansion.
Prudential Financial (PRU) fell $2.88. FBR Capital markets, also known Friedman, Billings, Ramsey brokerage downgraded it from "out perform" to just a "market perform" rating.
Manpower (MAN) tumbling $5.18 due to continuing declines in global labor markets, the company is withdrawing its fourth quarter earnings and revenue guidance.
And then the oil tankers had a rough day, down $0.77 on Teekay Tankers (TNK), but it traded as low as $8.92 after JPMorgan downgraded it from "over weight" to "neutral" as lower oil production is undercutting the oil tanker business.
Jefferies also downgraded several stocks in the sector. Let's have a look at some of the damage. Frontline Ltd (FRO), General Mar (GMR), Nordic American Tanker (NAT), Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG) and Tsakos Energy (TNP) all down significantly today.
Roper Industries (ROP) fell $1.88. The company cut its fourth quarter earnings guidance from $0.83 to $0.86 down to the range of $0.73 to $0.76 a share.
And then finally a gainer, Distribucion y Servicio D&S (DYS), this is a major Chilean retailing company. Wal-Mart has launched a tender offer for stock for all the outstanding shares. It's worth about $23 a share in Wal- Mart stock.
NASDAQ's most active, Apple (AAPL) down $4.26.
Google (GOOG) $13.06 loss there.
Microsoft (MSFT) bucked the trend, up $0.06.
Research in Motion (RIMM) losing $1.24. Serticom's board of directors is urging shareholders to reject RIMM's takeover bid of $1.50 in Canadian funds as being too low.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a $0.27 drop there.
Intel (INTC) dropped a dime.
And then Oracle (ORCL) losing $0.26.
Qualcomm (QCOM) down $0.22.
Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA), which is acquiring Barr Pharmaceuticals, down $1.71.
And First Solar (FSLR) losing $7.67.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
