Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
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PAUL KANGAS: Those dire December retail sales made for a dismal day on Wall Street. By 11:00 this morning, the Dow was off 276 points and the NASDAQ Composite down 52 points. Stocks stayed sharply lower throughout the afternoon as investors fretted over upcoming quarterly results from Citicorp and JPMorgan among others. Those stocks went on to close near their worst levels of the day. The Dow Industrial Average dropped 248.42 points to 8200.14. The NASDAQ Composite off 56.82 at 1489.64, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 29.17 points ending at 842.62. In the bond market, the 10-year note gained 27/32 to 113 19/32, putting the yield at 2.21 percent.
Big board volume leader on 85.8 million shares on the New York exchange and 511 million in composite trading, Citigroup (C) down $1.37. That's a 23 percent drop. Fourth quarter results are due out Friday. The Street estimate is for a loss of about $1.14 and of course as we know, Citigroup combining its Smith Barney brokerage with Morgan Stanley, making it the nation's largest.
And that will take that distinction away from Bank of America (BAC) and its Merrill Lynch operation. Bank of America dropping $0.45 today and after the close, Bank America is reportedly asking the government for more TARP money.
General Electric (GE) off $0.83.
Wells Fargo (WFC) dropped $1.31 in the weak banking group.
Pfizer (PFE) $0.35 loss there.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) lost $0.44.
ExxonMobil (XOM) dropping $2.82 on lower oil prices.
Co. Vale do Rio (RIO) off exactly $1.
AT&T (T) fell $0.58.
And SprintNextel (S) down $0.21, tenth in volume.
HSBC Holding ADR (HBC), the big international bank, down $3.66. Morgan Stanley repeated an "under weight" rating and thinks the company may need to raise as much as $30 billion, also recommends the company cut its dividend in half.
Siemens (SI), the big German firm, down $7.94. The story here, Merrill Lynch downgraded it from "buy" to just a "neutral" rating.
And then Rio Tinto Plc (RTP), the big mining company, off $8.93. It's going to stop producing diamonds at its Argyle mine in western Australia for the next three months due to poor global market conditions.
Bunge Ltd (BG) down $6.59. The company cut its 2008 earnings forecast down to $7.70 a share due to soft demand for soybean meal and oil and its rival, Archer Daniels Midland saw its stock drop $3.63 in sympathy.
Under Armour (UA), which makes athletic apparel, down $2.92, traded as low as $18.50. The company cut its 2008 revenue estimate from a high of $765 million all the way down to $726 million at best. It sees 2008 earnings around $0.77 a share.
FNB Corp (FNB) down, let's make it $2.65. The company sees a fourth quarter loss of $0.19 to $0.23 a share due to additional loan loss provisions.
LaBranche & Co (LAB) up $0.75, one of the best percentage gainers today. Goldman Sachs upgraded it from "sell" to a "buy."
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list, down $2.38. As we've heard the situation about Steve Jobs' health issues and of course, we wish him the very best.
Google (GOOG) down $13.35.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.73 drop.
Research in Motion (RIMM) fell $1.17.
And Intel (INTC) losing $0.59.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) off $0.71.
Oracle (ORCL) dropped $0.78.
First Solar (FSLR) losing $7.72.
Qualcomm (QCOM) $1.38 loss there.
And Amazon.com (AMZN) down $2.96.
Sterling Financial (STSA) off $3.05. Yesterday the company warned it would post a fourth quarter loss, so it's suspending its $0.10 per share quarterly dividend.
And finally, shares in eBay (EBAY) down $1.21 after analysts at Thomas Weisel and Collins Stewart issued cautious reports about the online auctioneer's loss of market share and challenging turnaround.
