Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
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JEFF YASTINE: Today's light-volume trading session put a positive ending on a deeply negative year. The Dow moved to an early 120-point gain as investors bet on companies like Caterpillar (CAT). The heavy equipment- maker is expected to benefit from the Obama administration's infrastructure plans. Energy stocks also got a boost this afternoon from the spike in oil prices. And with that, investors closed the books on 2008. The Dow closed up 108 points even at 8,776.39. And the NASDAQ gained 26.33 to 1,577.03. And then the S&P 500 rising 12.61 to 903.25. And today's report on weekly jobless claims showed an unexpectedly sharp decline in new benefit applications last week. And that led to selling in the 10-year note. It fell 1 18/32 to 113 7/32, and lifting the yield up to 2.22 percent.
Bank of America (BAC) topping our list, rising $0.84. The bank tells us that their deal to buy Merrill Lynch (MER) will close tomorrow. So today is likely to be the last day of trading for shares of the venerable brokerage and investment house. The stock losing two-thirds of its value this year. That's B of A.
And showing that the bears were in command, Wachovia (WB) ending off $0.19. Wells Fargo (WFC) is set to close its buyout of the troubled banking giant.
And there is Merrill Lynch (MER), ending up $0.37. Bidding farewell to the Big Board and the S&P 500 Index. Analysts say of B of A has its work cut out, integrating Merrill into its operations in 2009.
Citigroup (C) slipping a fraction, slid a whopping 77 percent for the year. And that horrendous performance is why CEO Vikram Pandit and other executives are now forgoing their 2008 bonuses.
GE (GE) rising $0.38. For the year, it is down more than 50 percent.
Owens-Illinois (OI) climbing $0.68. This stock will replace Wachovia in the S&P 500 Index.
Wells Fargo (WFC) rising $0.69 as well.
Pfizer (PFE) slipping a fraction.
Ford (F) was unchanged today.
And then Exxon Mobil (XOM) advanced $1.24. Today's sharp spike in oil prices helping the shares. The energy giant eked out a gain of 3 percent this quarter. The shares are down 15 percent for the year.
Wal-Mart (WMT) rose over $1. If there was a stock to own in 2008, this certainly was it. The shares up about 18 percent. The stock -- according to Thomson Reuters, Wal-Mart was the only retailer to see same-store sales growth in December.
And another Dow stock, Verizon Communications (VZ), picking up $0.67. This stock up 3.5 percent this quarter. Standard & Poor's sees the company's wireless operations offsetting any losses as consumers give up their wired house phones.
Navistar (NAV) gaining $1.54. The truck engine-maker posting stronger fourth-quarter profits, $1.31 a share, that was $0.43 above analyst targets.
And then some other gainers, Puget Energy (PSD) surging over 4. Shareholders will receive $30 a share as Macquarie Group buys out the company. Washington State regulators signed off on that deal today.
Phoenix Companies (PFX) jumping $3.38. The life insurer signed a deal with Swiss Re to improve its cash position and debt rating. And on the downside, the percentage loser of the day was Nalco Holdings (NLC), falling $2.46. This is a water treatment company. No one available there to take our calls.
Moving to the NASDAQ, Apple (AAPL) dropping $0.94. The global downturn hitting high techs especially hard this year, even Apple doing everything right on the product side, down about 60 percent for 2008.
Microsoft (MSFT) edged up a dime, shedding 45 percent this year.
Google (GOOG) rising a little 4.5, like Apple, its shares were off over 50 percent. Google's proposed alliance with Yahoo! (YHOO) never coming to fruition.
Research In Motion (RIMM) gaining $1.81. Since January, down more than 60 percent.
And Cisco (CSCO) advancing a fraction.
Flir Systems (FLIR) rising $0.89 after the close. This stock will be among the newest members of the S&P 500. Qualcomm up a similar amount, but falling the least in this group of high techs this year, down only 9 percent. Intel (INTC) dipped a fraction, but falling 45 percent on the year.
Here is a look at Oracle (ORCL), down a dime.
And then closing out the list, Amazon.com (AMZN) gaining $0.52. It was, of course, the star online retailer over the holidays. And it will replace Merrill Lynch (MER) in the S&P 100 Index after today.
And those are our "Stocks in the News" tonight.
