Taking Stock Of Wall Street 2008-09-11
Today morning saw plenty of economic data:
Jobless claims got most of the attention, though other distinguished statistics too were announced.
How many new people applied for jobless benefits this week?
6,000 – that many jobs disappeared officially. The total claims being processed thus became 445,000. The four-week average of initial claims rose to 440,000.
How many more Americans started receiving jobless benefits at the end of August?
122,000 – raising the total to 3.53 mln in the week ended August 30, the highestsince October 2003. The four-week moving average of continuing claims rose 36,750 to 3.43 mln, the highest since November 2003.
Trade figures:
Import prices fell 3.7% in August against an expected -1.7%. But this was largely due to a 12.8% drop in petroleum prices. If fuels were excluded the fall would have been 0.3%. Exports also fell, by 1.7%. July’s trade deficit rose to $62 bln from $58bln in June.
Governmental actions:
The U.S. Senate Banking Committee wants Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) to freeze foreclosures on loans in their portfolios for a minimum 90 day period. They believe non-performing assets may change into performing ones, if given sufficient time.
A report was tabled before the U.S. Senate today that alleges big banks shielded clients from tax liabilities. Those named include Citigroup (C), Deutsche Bank (DB), Lehman (LEH), Merrill Lynch (MER), Morgan Stanley (MS) and UBS (UBS).
The Department of Justice is concerned that Google (GOOG) may monopolize and throttle the information highway. So, not only they may contemplate into the Google-Yahoo (YHOO) affair, but they may extend the investigation into internet search arena too.
30-year fixed mortgages dropped to 5.93%, down from 6.35% a week ago. May be, we will find new re-mortgage activities by consumers again.
Natural gas reserves went up by 58 bcf, more than the forecast 55 bcf, to 2905 bcf.
Crude oil prices went down so much that at one time it was only a few points above the 5-month old $100 level. It closed at $100.87. Gold fell by -$17.50 to $745.00.
The dollar is having a joyride with lot of its opponents in trouble: European economy, oil and gold. If this trend can continue into a longer ride, a stronger dollar will have good impact on our trade deficit with lower oil prices. But too much strength will also fabricate our exports costlier.
Market Indices made a like a flash recovery in the afternoon:
Dow was UP by 164.79 (1.4%) to 11433.71
Nasdaq UP by 29.52 (1.3%) to 2258.22
S&P 500 UP by 17.01 (1.3%) to 1249.05
NYSE saw 1431 stocks advancing and 1785 declining. 15 stocks topped their 52-week Highs and 377 registerd a new 52-week Lows.Total volume traded was 1.4 bln.
Nasdaq had 1310 advancing stocks against 1565 declined. 15 stocks broke above their 52-week Highs and 258 registered novel 52-week Lows. Total volume of trades stood at 2.3 bln.
Today started with financials at the front of a scuttle, plagued by Lehman Brother’s uncertain future.
Goldman Sachs denied the rumor that they are interested in buying LEH. Things brightened up in the afternoon with the report that LEH had initiated a sale proposal to Bank of America (BAC).
Later, financials did make a comeback with JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) spearheading the attack.
While oil production stocks suffered, refining stocks made considerable advance and even contributed for the late upswing in the indices, as their input costs were slashed with falling oil prices.
Market News:
Petrobras (PBR) struck bigger oil finds in their Iara field and estimates the output will be enough to supply Brazil’s oil needs for five years.
Longs Drug Stores (LDG) agreed to choose shareholder lawsuits over the $2.6bln merger with CVS Caremark (CVS). They admitted the failure to seek third-party valuation of real estate assets before the take-over.
Amazon (AMZN) struck exclusive deals to publish Kindle e-book biographies of Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain.
French JCDecaux is offering $1 bln for News Corp’s (NWS) Russian outdoor advertising unit.
Mexican telecom tycoon Slim Helu bought a 6.4% stake in The Recent York Times Company (NYT). This comes on the heels of Rupert Murdoch making public his dreams of owning NYT.
Chrysler is seriously considering the development of electric cars.
Northrop Grumman (NOC) had happy news after yesterday’s disappointing cancellation of the coveted in-flight tanker bids by the Pentagon. Today, It was awarded a seven-year $5.1 bln contract to build the first in a new class of US aircraft carriers.
Early reports emerge that Rituxan, an arthritic drug from the duo, Genentech (DNA) and Biogen (BIIB), may result in brain disorder.
Vishay (VSH) raised its buyout offer for International Rectifier (IRF) to $1.7bln
King Pharmaceuticals (KG) also hiked its bid for Alpharma (ALO) to $1.6 bln.
Deutsche Bank (DB) is engaged in talks to pick up a stake in rival Deutsche Postbank.
Japanese cell phone operator NTT DoCoMo (DCM) is trying for a stake in Tata’s telecom business.
Cleveland Cliffs (CLF) is offering $455 mln to buy 15% of Australia’s Portman Ltd.
Intelligent property case between MGA Entertainment and Mattel (MAT) regarding Bratz had recently resulted in a jury verdict in favor of MAT. Now, MGA says it is willing to share future revenues with MAT.
Lululemon Athletica (LULU) and Campbell Soup (CPB) brought out earnings exceeding analyst expectations.
Analysts’ Ratings:
The following company stocks were upgraded:
AEGON N.V. (AEG), Albemarle (ALB), ArcSight (ARST), Covidien (COV), Potash Corp (POT), Southern Community Finanacial (SCMF) and Yadkin Valley Financial (YAVY).
Stocks downgraded include:
AXA (AXA), American Commercial Lines (ACLI), Bank of America (BAC), Becton Dickinson (BDX),Globecomm Systems (GCOM), H.B. Fuller (FUL), Jones Apparel (JNY), Lehman Bros (LEH), Max Capital Grp (MXGL), Medarex (MEDX), NVIDIA (NVDA), PDL BioPharma (PDLI), Pinnacle Financial (PNFP), Quantum Fuel (QTWW) and Trex (TWP)
AEGON N.V. (AEG) and Kenexa (KNXA) received both upgrades and downgrades.
It is very alarming the contrivance rumors are having a field day now-a-days leading to choppy markets. We already saw the world’s foremost stock market taken for a ride by the United Airlines bankruptcy rumor and its reacting to it without bothering to verify with the company in the first place.
As a whole the market is showing some strength, by turning the loss of 1.7% in the forenoon into a 1.5% gain in the afternoon.
Related Posts
Filed under Home Business Phone Systems by on Apr 7th, 2011. 
Leave a Comment