Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Thursday, June 04, 2009
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street opened narrowly mixed but firmed up on news of a drop in new weekly jobless benefit claims and a solid 1.6 percent rise in first quarter productivity. By 11:00 a.m. the Dow was up 46 points and the NASDAQ rose 11 points. Stocks pulled back over mid- session but made an afternoon comeback with the help of an upgrade on the banking sector by RBC Capital. The market went on to end near the day's best level. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 74.96 at 8750.24. The NASDAQ Composite up 24.10 ending at 1850.02, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 10.70 At 942.46. In the bond market, the 10-year note tumbled 1 15/32 to 95 4/32, putting the yield up to 3.72 percent.
Different name at the top of the active list today, traded a very active 68 million shares, Covidien (COV) down $0.44 even though this company could benefit from increased demand for its medical scanning isotopes after the shutdown last month of a rival company's nuclear reactor. The Stiefel brokerage out today covering Covidien with an upgrade from "hold" to "buy."
Bank of America (BAC) a $0.66 gain. Banking industry strong in that RBC upgrade.
Citigroup (C) up $0.18.
Valero Energy (VLO) down $0.15.
Keycorp (KEY) up $0.90. It got a specific upgrade from RBC Capital from "sector perform" to "top pick."
And then JPMorgan Chase (JPM) another strong banking stock thanks to that RBC upgrade.
Ford (F) an $0.18 advance there. The company will provide at least $125 million of financing to support its former parts unit Visteon Corp.
Regions Financial (RF) edged up $0.04.
FMC Technologies (FTI) $1.31 advance there.
Then Wells Fargo (WFC) up $0.97, another firm bank stock.
Boeing (BA) up $2.20 a share. The company is talking to United Airlines about possible orders for new aircraft.
Mastercard (MA) up $0.89. Despite the president's comment that the worst is not yet over for the credit card industry, he's also said that last month's sweeping legislation about the industry went too far.
Good percentage gainer today, First Industrial (FR) moving up $1.57 or over 37 percent. The company closed on three secured financing transactions totaling $154 million.
The retailers had a rough day, Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) particularly off $3.75 after reporting May same store sales tumbled 28 percent.
Nordstrom (JWN) off $1.59. Its May same store sales dropped 15 percent.
And then BJ's Wholesale (BJ) off $1.33 on a 6.8 percent drop in May same store sales.
And the Gap (GPS) a drop of $1.29. Its May same store sales down 6 percent.
Let's go for a gainer here and a nice one in Dyncorp (DCP). This company provides technical services to government and industry and it doubled its fourth quarter earnings to $0.34 a share from $0.17 last year and revenues shot up 42 percent.
NASDAQ's most active, Apple (AAPL) up $2.79. The French brokerage, Societe Generale started coverage with a "buy" on Apple.
Google (GOOG) moving up well over $8 a share. The story here, Citicorp has boosted its price target on Google from $450 a share to $580 a share.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up $1.53.
Qualcomm (QCOM) $1.71 advance there.
Microsoft (MSFT) edged up a dime a share.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.31 gain.
Intel (INTC) was up $0.19. The company will acquire Wind River Systems for $884 million or $11.50 a share. Wind River stock jumped 47 percent. It was up $3.76 to close at $11.76 a share.
Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) $0.48 rise there. The company sold $1 billion of its common stock at an average price of $6.33 a share and it'll focus now on repaying its Federal bailout money.
Oracle (ORCL) a $0.27 gain.
And then tenth in volume Baidu.com (BIDU) with an advance of $6.54 a share.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
