Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
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JEFF YASTINE: Declining prices for oil and metals in the commodity markets put Wall Street in a selling mood today. The Dow stair-stepped lower from the opening bell. The biggest losers were the materials and heavy equipment companies, like 3M, Caterpillar. GE shares fell 4 percent and the punishment in blue chip and tech shares continued straight into the closing bell. The Dow ended off 161.27 to 8,163.60. The NASDAQ fell 41.23 to 1,746.17. The S&P finishing down 17.69 at 881.03. And the bond market saw some flight to safety buying from the equity sell-off. The 10-year note climbing 15/32 to 97 9/32 and the yield at 3.45 percent.
Bank of America (BAC) ending the day unchanged, but analysts believe the uptick in unemployment toward 10 percent will mean more credit losses for Bank of America. They report quarterly results due out next week.
Citigroup (C) finishing down $0.10. Their results are out on the 17th.
General Electric (GE) part of that weak blue chip sector today with materials falling $0.47.
Pfizer (PFE) gaining two pennies.
Wells Fargo (WFC) rising $0.23. The financials not doing so badly today.
Vale (VALE) ending off $1.24.
But Alcoa (AA) climbing $0.15. Volume heating up ahead of tomorrow's quarterly results.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) advancing $0.21.
There's Ford Motor Co (F) losing $0.22.
And Keycorp (KEY) rising $0.21. The Midwest bank sailed through the government-mandated stress test requirement. Analysts at Keefe Bruyette & Woods believe Keycorp has one of the strongest capital ratios among the large banks and they think the stock is attractively priced.
Boeing Co (BA) fell $1.52. They spent $1 billion to buy a plant in South Carolina, makes critical parts for the Dreamliner and has contributed to the lengthy delays in delivery of those jets. Sanford Bernstein though boosting the price target on Boeing shares.
Shares in railroad stocks running off the tracks today. The recession means a lot fewer carloads of freight. Analysts at JPMorgan cutting their outlooks through 2010 on all the major railroaders, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI), you seem them down more than $3.
CSX (CSX), Norfolk Southern (NSC), Union Pacific (UNP) all down significantly and that weakness weighed on the Dow transport index. It fell over 3 percent today.
There's American Intl Group (AIG) sliding $2.44. As you heard, they lost a court battle with their former CEO Hank Greenberg. Shares of AIG by the way now down by 40 percent since last week's one for 20 reverse stock split.
And President Obama reiterating support for the government-run health care plan today, but in other comments, administration officials indicating there's room at the table for private insurers in ongoing reform efforts. That potential policy shift rallied all the health insurer stocks. Aetna (AET), Cigna (CI), Coventry Health Care (CVH), Humana (HUM), Unitedhealth Group (UNH) all doing nicely today.
Weyerhaeuser Co (WY) sank more than $2. The paper maker taking an ax to its annual dividend, cutting it by 80 percent. Weyerhaeuser also thinking of converting itself into a real estate investment trust.
And speaking of REITs, Vornado Realty (VNO) down $2.64. The board is pushing plans to start a private equity fund to bolster funds and take advantage of distressed real estate properties.
On the NASDAQ, here's Apple (AAPL) losing more than $3.
Google (GOOG) down nearly $13.
Microsoft (MSFT) losing $0.67.
Intel (INTC) dropping $0.29. Bank of America sees demand for computer chips taking off in the third quarter based on what they see as indications of improved global economic growth. That argument falling on deaf ears today.
And Research in Motion (RIMM) down more than $2.
And more red here, Qualcomm (QCOM) down $1.52.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) losing $0.29.
Oracle (ORCL) down nearly half a dollar.
Dell (DELL) losing $0.42.
Amazon.com (AMZN) losing nearly $2.50.
Littelfuse (LFUS) though climbing $2.50. The CEO sees inventories down and the company hitting its strongest part of the year giving an upgraded forecast on their second quarter revenues.
And finally, Hansen Medical (HNSN) off $1.58. The medical device maker issuing a revenue warning for the second quarter. Hospitals are not buying its Sensei robotic catheter system with the economy doing as poorly as it is.
Those are our stocks in the news tonight.
