Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Friday, June 05, 2009
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street opened narrowly mixed as investors viewed the pros and cons of that employment report. But they gradually warmed to the idea the figures were consistent with a recession winding down. By noon then, the Dow posted a 60-point gain, with the NASDAQ up six points. The general market turned choppy this afternoon as the NASDAQ lagged the overall market, so the day ended the way it started -- narrowly mixed. The Dow Industrial Average closed up 12.89 at 8,763.13. For the week overall, the blue chip index rose four times, fell just once, had an overall gain of 262.80 points. That's 3.1 percent. The NASDAQ Composite lost .60 ending at 1,849.42 today. It was up just twice this week, down three times, but it still gained 75.09 points on the week. Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 2.37 ending at 940.09 today and for the week overall, the S&P gained just about 21 points. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell a full point to 94 5/32, lifting the yield at 3.84 percent.
Most active big board issue on 46.8 million shares, Bank of America (BAC) down a penny. The company did confirm CEO Ken Lewis will appear before a House panel this coming Thursday to answer questions about Bank of America's acquisition of Merrill Lynch.
Citigroup (C) in there with an $0.11 loss. The "Wall Street Journal" reports the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is pushing for a shakeup in top management, including CEO Vikram Pandit.
GE (GE) $0.21 loss there.
The Travelers (TRV) managed a $0.13 gain.
Ford Motor (F) showed no change on the day.
AIG (AIG) a $0.07 gainer.
Wells Fargo (WFC) a $0.38 drop.
Regions Financial (RF) an $0.08 loss there.
Pfizer (PFE) down $0.13.
And JPMorgan Chase (JPM), tenth in volume, down $0.80, even though Credit Suisse brokerage upgraded its price target on JP from $35 to $42 a share.
Alcoa (AA) moving up $0.25. The recent surge in aluminum prices has been boosting the stock nicely in recent days.
Another Dow stock, Dupont (DD) off $1.71. Merrill Lynch downgraded it to "under perform" on concern over the stock's rather high valuation according to Merrill.
Merck (MRK) down $0.51. The company's experimental heart failure drug failed to meet the goals that it was set out to do in late stage trials.
Mastercard (MA) down $0.72. Yesterday, the company's president said the worst is yet to come for the credit card industry, but today, Standard & Poor's upgraded Mastercard from "hold" to a "strong buy" and boosted its price target by $40 a share all the way up to $225 a share.
Nike (NKE) up $0.75. The Robert Baird brokerage upgraded it from "neutral" to "out perform" because of the company's global reach.
Harley Davidson (HOG) losing $1.24. Citigroup downgraded it from "hold" to "sell" mainly because it sees an outlook of weak retail sales for Harley.
Jackson Hewitt (JTX), the tax preparation service, up $1.95. Positive reaction to the company's naming the former head of its rival H&R Block as its president and CEO. Oppenheimer upgraded Jackson stock from "market perform" to "out perform."
And Rio Tinto (RTP) up $11.08. The company is walking away from its $19 billion deal with Chinalco. That's the big Chinese aluminum company and instead, it's going to sell $15 billion of common stock and use the proceeds to slash debt and launch an iron ore venture with BHP Billiton.
NASDAQ's most active, Apple (AAPL) $0.93 gain. The "Wall Street Journal" reports Steve Jobs has apparently returned to the company after a leave -- a medical leave.
Then Google (GOOG) up $4.04.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.20 gain.
Microsoft (MSFT) was up $0.31.
Research in Motion (RIMM) advanced $0.69. The Barclays bank boosted its price target on Research from $80 to $104 a share and rates the stock an "over weight."
Express Scripts (ESRX) up $1.05.
Intel (INTC) $0.21 loss.
Baidu (BIDU) up $10.67.
Qualcomm (QCOM) an $0.11 gain there.
And Amazon.com (AMZN) was up $2.04.
Elsewhere in NASDAQ trading, we had a big gainer, Palomar Medical Technologies (PMTI) up nearly 53 percent. The FDA approved the company's over the counter marketing for its laser device for treating wrinkles around the eye. Analysts see that product adding $12 to $40 million to the company's annual revenues. The company incidentally is partnering in this venture with Johnson & Johnson.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
