Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
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PAUL KANGAS: Stocks on Wall Street opened sharply higher in anticipation the Fed would hold rates steady. An hour into trading, the Dow jumped 141 points with the NASDAQ up 22 points. The rally was also linked to a weaker dollar which boosted the commodity sector. Somewhat supportive were two private reports showing job losses were slowing down. Even so, the market lost ground in choppy afternoon trading, resulting in a mixed close. The Dow Industrial Average salvaged a gain of just 30.23 at 9802.14. The NASDAQ Composite lost 1.80, ending at 2055.52, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index edged up 1.09 to 1046.50. In the bond market, the 10-year note fell 14/32 to par and 28/32, putting the yield at 3.52 percent.
Big board volume leader as it's been so often recently, Citigroup (C) today on 66 1/2 million shares, down $0.07.
Followed by Ford Motor Co (F) $0.17 loss there.
Bank of America (BAC) dropped a dime.
General Electric (GE) a $0.13 loss.
But Pfizer (PFE) bucked the trend with a $0.20 gain.
Ambac Financial (ABK) up $0.39, big percentage move. The bond insurer reported a third quarter profit of over $2 billion after accounting gains from credit derivatives.
Wells Fargo (WFC) $0.87 loss.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) down $0.49.
But Merck (MRK) did well today, up $1.97 after it merged yesterday, completed the merger with Schering Plough. The company today predicted high single digit earnings increases from this year through 2013.
Burlington Northern (BNI) up another dime after gaining almost $21 yesterday on Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway buyout bid of $100 a share, 60 of it in cash and 40 percent stock.
General Dynamics (GD) up $1.30. Credit Suisse upgraded it from "neutral" to "out perform" with a $74 a share target on GD.
TRW Automotive (TRW) up $1.27, a real turnaround. Third quarter earnings of $0.68 versus a loss of $0.22 a year ago. Those earnings $0.52 better than the Street was expecting.
Magna International (MGA) an automotive company, up $3.41. That stock up in relief that the company won't be buying a big stake in General Motors Opel division.
Baker Hughes (BHI) oil service company down $2.54, sharply lower third quarter earnings, $0.18 versus $1.39 last year.
But a good gain posted today by Rehabcare (RHB) up $5.29, $0.37 in third quarter earnings, well above $0.22 last year. The company gave an upbeat outlook and it's acquiring Triumph health care for $570 million which it said will be accretive to earnings next year.
Davita (DVA), which provides kidney dialysis, up $3.53, higher earnings, $1.06 in the third quarter versus $0.89 last year, also boosted its 2009 guidance.
Apple (AAPL) topped the NASDAQ active list with a gain of $2.06.
Followed by Microsoft (MSFT) down $0.53.
Not much impact of that lawsuit on Intel (INTC) which moved up $0.23.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.38 gain. After the close, Cisco announced first quarter earnings, $0.36 a share, $0.05 above the Street estimate and the company plans on buying back an additional $10 billion in stock. The stock moved up $1 from this price in after hours trading.
Google (GOOG) was up $3.04.
Research in Motion (RIMM) a $2 loss there.
And Qualcomm (QCOM) fell $0.62.
Amazon.com (AMZN) off $1.27.
Oracle (ORCL) edged a penny higher.
And then Comcast (CMCSA) with a $0.45 gain, tenth in volume.
Elsewhere, Garmin Ltd (GRMN), which makes GPS products, third quarter earnings, $1.02, $0.33 better than expected, but Garmin warned that its holiday sales will fall below last year's levels and Wall Street was concerned about tougher competition from Google.
And then Stec (STEC) a major loss, down $9.01. The company makes flash memory products. Third quarter earnings sharply higher, $0.50 versus a dime last year, but the company also warned of its largest customer, EMC, has to work off a lot of inventory before ordering more Stec products and down went the stock.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
