Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
|
|
|
|
PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street started the day on a cautious note as investors nervously awaited the Fed's afternoon decision. An hour into trading, the Dow posted a 110 point loss with the NASDAQ off eight points. As selling pressure eased, the blue chips cut that loss to 48 points at 2:00 p.m. and shortly after that, the Fed said it would buy up to $300 billion in Treasury bonds and that sent the Dow to a 150 point gain at 3:00 p.m. But the final hour brought a moderate pullback. The Dow Jones Industrial Average still closed up 90.88 at 7486.58. The NASDAQ up 29.11 at 1491.22. Standard & Poor's 500 rose 16.23 points ending at 794.35. The Fed's buying plan boosted bond prices sharply. The 10-year note surged 4 5/32 to 101 29/32, pushing the yield down to only 2.53 percent.
Once again the most active big board issue today on 222 million shares, Citigroup (C) moving up $0.57. That's a 23 percent advance.
Bank of America (BAC) up $1.40. That's a 22 percent advance and the CEO says the company could pay back its $45 billion in government capital by late this year or early next depending on the economy.
American International Group (AIG) one of the best percentage gainers, moving up $0.42.
Wells Fargo (WFC) up $2.56.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) in the strong banking group up $1.97.
General Electric (GE) up $0.32.
Co Vale Do Rio (RIO) $0.06 advance.
Alcoa (AA) dropped $0.11. It slashed its dividend earlier in the week.
Pfizer (PFE) a penny loss.
And then Ford Motor (F) moving up $0.19 a share.
Nike (NKE) a $0.51 gain in regular way trading. After the close, the company reported third quarter results excluding one-time items, $0.99 a share, $0.20 better than the Street thought, but at after hours trading, the stock dropped to about $44 due to diminishing demand from Europe for the stock.
General Mills (GIS) plunged $6.03. Third quarter earnings lower, $0.79 versus last year's $0.87 as higher costs offset a 4 percent rise in sales. The company also said that the stronger dollar hurt its results.
Harley-Davidson (HOG) up $2.34. The company obtained more favorable loan agreements from its lenders.
And a major loss in Medicis Pharmaceutical (MRX), off $1.02. The FDA reportedly denied the company's petition to stop copycat versions of its acne drug Soliten (ph). Teva Pharmaceuticals said that it'll start marketing a generic version immediately.
Guess (GES) up $2.22. Higher fourth quarter earnings, $0.67 versus $0.59 a year ago. Global revenues were up 9 percent. Needham upgraded it to a "strong buy."
Darden Restaurants (DRI) up $5.97, $0.80 in third quarter earnings out today. That's down from $0.85 but $0.12 above the Street estimate and the company still boosted its full year earnings guidance. Morgan Stanley repeated an "out perform."
And the whole restaurant chain group strong on that news, Brinker International (EAT), CEC Entertainment (CEC), Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) and Dineequity (DIN) all nice percentage moves.
Schawk (SGK) which is in the graphics business had a rough day. The company sees 2008 operating loss of $30 to $40 million on a 9 percent drop in sales and it delayed its 10K filing. Baird brokerage downgraded it from "out perform" to "under perform."
Topping the active list, Apple (AAPL) up $1.86.
Google (GOOG) down $2.22.
Then Sun Microsystems (JAVA) a huge gain, up $3.92. "Wall Street Journal" reports that IBM is eyeing the company as a takeover and that analysts believe the stock could fetch as much as $10 to $11 a share. IBM fell $0.96.
Intel (INTC) $0.34 loss there.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.36 gain and $0.34 gain (ph).
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.06 advance.
Qualcomm (QCOM) up $0.64.
Research in Motion (RIMM) $0.68 drop.
Oracle (ORCL) closed up $0.43. After the close, third quarter earnings out at $0.35 a share, $0.03 above the Street estimate and the company is initiating a $0.05 per share quarterly dividend. In after hours trading, the stock was as high a $17.
Amazon.com (AMZN) tenth in volume, down $0.10 a share.
And those are our stocks in the news tonight.
