Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Monday, January 12, 2009
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street moved in a slow downward spiral this morning, as investors grew nervous ahead of Alcoa's after the bell results and what that report could say about earnings season overall. By noon, the Dow posted a 106 point loss with the NASDAQ down 21 points. An early afternoon rally attempt was too feeble to attract a following, so sellers took it right on into a broadly lower close. The Dow Industrial Average ended the day down 125.21 points at 8473.97. The NASDAQ Composite lost 32.80 ending at 1538.79, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 20.09 to 870.26. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note rose 25/32 to 112 19/32, putting the yield at 2.31 percent.
Most active New York exchange issue and it was active, 56.7 million shares, down $1.15, negative reaction. As you heard, Citigroup (C) and Morgan Stanley may merge their brokerage operations.
Then came Bank of America (BAC) down $1.56. Citigroup says Bank America will have a fourth quarter loss and may cut its quarterly dividend from $0.32 down to $0.05 a share.
General Electric (GE) $0.17 loss.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) fell $1.06.
AT&T (T) down $0.74.
$1.34 loss in Wells Fargo (WFC).
Advanced Medical (EYE) was up $12.65, a mere 143 percent advance. The news, Abbott Laboratories will acquire this company for $22 a share in cash. That'll put Abbott Labs in the eye products business.
ExxonMobil (XOM) down $1.30.
Pfizer (PFE) an $0.08 loss there.
And SprintNextel (S) down $0.14.
Aetna (AET) of $1.03. The company cut its 2009 earnings guidance because of higher than expected pension costs and it say 2009 results will be lower than those of 2008.
More insurance stocks on the downside here, Hartford Financial (HIG), Lincoln National (LNC) and Principal Financial (PFG) under pressure after Standard & Poor's expects to cut their ratings and also lower their rating outlooks over the next six months.
There was an upside for one insurance company, Zenith National (ZNT), which specializes in workmen's compensation insurance. The company got an upgrade from Oppenheimer from "market perform" to "out perform."
Harley Davidson (HOG) taking a flop, $1.87 drop there. Goldman Sachs cut its rating from "neutral" to "sell" and cut its price target on Harley from $30 all the way down to $11 a share. On top of that, RBC Capital cut its 2009 earnings estimate from $2.70 a share all the way down to $1.98.
Landry's Restaurants (LNY) tumbling $4.19. The chief executive officer has terminated his plan to take the company private for about $13.50 a share due to funding disclosure problems.
And the company that makes the cleaning products, Zep (ZEP) off $4.30. A first quarter loss of $0.07 a share versus earnings of $0.30 last year and after the close, the company's chief operating officer resigned.
Then we see Satyam Computer (SAY), the Indian computer company, down 84 percent. Last week, the chairman was arrested after he said he overstate the company's cash balances by over $1 billion and India's regulators are taking control of the board of directors.
NASDAQ's most active, down $1.92, Apple (AAPL).
Followed by Google (GOOG), off $2.38.
Microsoft (MSFT) dropped a nickel a share.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) off $0.30.
Research in Motion (RIMM) down $1.01.
Intel (INTC) fell $0.36.
First Solar (FSLR) off $12.61.
Oracle (ORCL) dropped $0.31.
Amazon.com (AMZN) down $3.59 on a weak high tech group, after Broadpoint, which is a research firm in the high tech area downgraded a lot of those stocks from "buy" to "neutral" today.
Celgene (CELG) down $0.60 a share, tenth in NASDAQ volume.
Dryships (DRYS) off $1.30. Al Frank Asset Management's chief investment officer recommending selling Dryships and taking some profits because it's had a sharp recent gain.
And Aladdin Knowledge (ALDN) down, up $1.36. A group led by Vector Capital will acquire this company for $11.50 a share in cash.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
