Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Friday, May 29, 2009
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JEFF YASTINE: On Wall Street a so-so start to trading ends with a firm finish to the upside. This morning, investors appeared to be biding their time ahead of GM's announcement. News the nation's economy shrank nearly 6 percent in the first quarter kept early gains to a minimum, but later investors focused on a University of Michigan survey showing Americans are becoming more optimistic about the economy. And that helped stocks rocket higher ahead of the closing bell. The Dow ended up 96.53 to 8500 and a fraction and for the holiday shortened week, it rose three times and fell once for a net overall gain of 223 or 2.7 percent. The NASDAQ gained 22.54 to 1774.33 and it rose three times and fell once for a weekly gain of 82.3 or almost 5 percent. And the S&P 500 up a little over 12 points to 919.14 and for the week, the S&P 500 rising 32.14 or 3.6 percent. Buyers also returned to the bond market on the belief the sell off in Treasuries might be overdone. The yield on the 10-year note falling to 3.46 percent.
Bank of America (BAC) topping our list again here, losing $0.03. An Oppenheimer analyst thinks B of A earnings will suffer for some time as the bank continues to build its post stress test reserves. Senior executives say the industry will remain weak for several quarters to come. There's General Motors (GM) falling below $1, hitting $0.75 a share. The iconic auto maker steers toward bankruptcy. S&P maintaining a "strong sell."
Citigroup (C) gaining a nickel. It's watching a $4 billion credit card backed TALF deal with the Treasury.
Ford Motor (F) added $0.19. The company says Chrysler dealers are dumping inventory and their going out of business sales hurting the whole industry. Ford sees yearly industry sales dipping to the 10 million unit level.
Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) gaining $0.73.
Then Regions Financial (RF) adding $0.17. Regions CEO bailed on a scheduled appearance at an annual conference, excuse me an analyst conference this morning. Some analysts think that could mean something is up, although the company says the CEO's cancellation was due to what they called an unavoidable conflict.
Chimera Investments (CIM) up $0.17.
GE (GE) gaining $0.29.
Pfizer (PFE) up a half a dollar.
ExxonMobil (XOM) rising $0.12.
And Morgan Stanley (MS) up $0.89. Keefe Bruyette Woods upgraded the stock. They see Morgan benefiting from the pending merger of its wealth management business with Smith Barney.
And J Crew Group (JCG) up more than $5 to 26 percent. The upscale apparel retailer's latest profits beat expectations so it will see a profit in the second quarter instead of a loss and Standard & Poor's upgraded J Crew from "hold" to "buy."
A host of other retailers making news as well, Tiffany & Co (TIF) ends with an earnings disappointment.
But JPMorgan upgrading Office Depot (ODP) shares -- sorry I did that one a little bit in anticipation. Wet Seal (WTSLA) had better than expected first quarter numbers, but sees second quarter results below analyst expectations.
Excuse me, Rostelecom (ROS) down $4.33. Russia's government cleared the way for a massive telecom reorganization there. The government playing a big role, a bigger role in the telecom arena in their country.
(INAUDIBLE) Lexmark International (LXK) rising more than $1. Barclays upgrading the shares from "under weight" to "equal weight."
On the NASDAQ, Apple (AAPL) up $0.74. The stock down despite speculation as you heard a moment ago, Apple might replace GM in the Dow.
Research in Motion (RIMM) off $1.66.
Intel (INTC) unchanged at $15.72.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) losing a nickel, another one mentioned as a possible replacement for GM.
Google (GOOG) adding $6.83. Industry analysts say Microsoft's new Bing search engine not a Google killer.
There's Microsoft (MSFT) up $0.44.
Oracle (ORCL) gaining $0.38.
And Qualcomm (QCOM) rising $0.64.
And then we have Dryships (DRYS) which rose $0.89.
And Dell (DELL), which had earnings yesterday, gaining $0.09.
Finally, Smartheat (HEAT) up $0.44 or 6 percent. This is a Chinese firm registered in the U.S. They make heat exchange systems for China's industrial sector. The chart a bit weird because the company went public in February. The Rodman & Renshaw brokerage boosted the price target from $8 to $10 with a market "out perform" rating.
And those are our stocks in the news tonight.
