Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: On Wall Street, stocks moved higher despite more signs of recession like that drop in personal spending we just mentioned, plus a decline in durable goods orders and another jump in jobless benefit claims. Mid-way through the morning the Dow posted a 38 point gain, with the NASDAQ Composite up two points. Year end portfolio dressing kept the market modestly higher right into the early closing bell at 1:00 p.m. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended with a gain of 48.99 at 8468.48. The NASDAQ Composite was up 3.36 at 1524.90, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index closed up 4.99 at 868.15. In the bond market, the 10-year note lost 3/32 to 113 28/32, putting the yield up to 2.18 percent.
New York exchange volume leader on only 8.1 million shares, very slow day, Bank of America (BAC) up $0.78 and that's despite speculation the company may have to cut its dividend again.
Then Citigroup (C) up $0.26.
General Electric (GE) lost a penny.
Ford Motor (F) down $0.08.
And Micron Technology (MU) up $0.23, even though its first quarter loss was $0.91, well up from the $0.34 loss of a year ago and revenues dipped 8.7 percent.
Prologis (PLO) up $3.18. Yesterday it was up nearly $1 on the company's plan to sell its operations in China for $1.3 billion and it'll use those proceeds to pay off debt. Today, Deutsche Bank brokerage upgraded it from "hold" to "buy" and Wachovia upgraded it from "under perform" to "out perform."
Pfizer (PFE) with a $0.02 loss.
And then came ExxonMobil (XOM) up $0.68.
Qwest Communications (Q) an $0.08 rise.
And CIT Group (CIT) was down $0.45, tenth in volume.
Nike (NKE) gained $1.17. The DA Davidson brokerage began covering the stock with a "buy" in the belief the company will continue to gain market share in the sportswear industry.
Navistar International (NAV) down $1.05. The company's going to restate results by $50 to $70 million higher for the nine months ending July 31, 2008, but the stock still on the downside.
Orbital Sciences Corp. (ORB) down $0.28. The company has been selected by NASA for a $1.9 billion contract to provide cargo transportation services to and from the international space station.
China Eastern Airlines (CEA) did well, rising $2.04. The bank of communications gave the company a $1.5 billion line of credit.
A lot of changes in the Standard & Poor's indices at the end of the month and one of them, Owens-Illinois (O) which gained $2.13 today. That stock to be added to the Standard & Poor's 500 after the close December 31st, replacing Wachovia, which of course is being acquired by Wells Fargo.
Another change here, Actuant Corp (ATU) up $0.79. Its stock will be added to the Standard & Poor's small cap 600 index after the close on December 31st.
Elsewhere, Sherwin-Williams (SHW) up $1.32. CEO told the "Wall Street Journal" the company's well positioned to ride out the recession and may well boost its dividend next year.
Apple (APPL) topped the NASDAQ active list, down $1.34.
Google (GOOG) up $4.93.
Microsoft (MSFT) lost $0.11.
Research in Motion (RIMM) down $0.79. The company is suing Motorola alleging it improperly blocked RIMM from hiring current and laid off Motorola employees. Motorola stock fell $0.09 a share.
Then Cisco Systems (CSCO), fifth in volume, was up $0.11 a share.
Qualcomm (QCOM) $0.02 loss.
Intel (INTC) $0.16 gain.
First Solar (FSLR) down $3.64.
Gilead Sciences (GILD) up $0.46.
And Oracle (ORCL) with a $0.02 gain.
FedEx (FDX) up $0.34. Late today, FedEx said because of the severe winter weather across much of the U.S., all 665 of its domestic sorting stations will be open Christmas morning allowing customers to pick up their packages.
