Stocks & Markets

November 19, 2008

Analyst Actions: Ace Ltd, Century Aluminum

CITIGROUP DOWNGRADES ACE LTD. TO HOLD FROM BUY Citigroup analyst Joshua Shanker says as the market loses faith in the ability of life insurers to pay variable annuity ...

November 19, 2008

S&P Picks and Pans: Toyota, GE, Phillips-Van Heusen, LDK Solar, Fannie Mae

S&P REITERATES SELL OPINION ON ADSS OF TOYOTA MOTOR (TM; 62.82): Even as the Detroit 3 seek government assistance to help them through this automotive depression, and ...

November 19, 2008

Stocks Edge Lower

U.S. stocks were lower Wednesday in volatile early trading. Wall Street eyed reports showing the biggest monthly drop in in the consumer price index (CPI) in 61 years ...

November 19, 2008

Movers: Boeing, BJ's Wholesale, Phillips-Van Heusen

Boeing (BA) is reworking its entire production schedule, adding as much as 10 weeks to the original delivery date for all 3,734 jetliners in its order backlog as it ...

November 18, 2008

S&P Picks and Pans: Hewlett-Packard, Yahoo, Home Depot, Corning, New York Times

S&P REITERATES STRONG BUY RECOMMENDATION ON SHARES OF HEWLETT-PACKARD (HPQ; 33.04): HPQ announces preliminary results for October-quarter including non-GAAP EPS of ...

November 18, 2008

Analyst Actions: Hewlett-Packard, Yahoo, Chiquita

BANC OF AMERICA SAYS HEWLETT-PACKARD'S FOURTH QUARTER OUTLOOK IS ABOVE CONSENSUS Banc of America analyst Scott Craig notes that Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) expects to report...

November 18, 2008

Movers: Ford, Hewlett-Packard, Yahoo, Home Depot, Medtronic

Ford Motor (F) agrees to sell a portion of its ownership stake in Mazda Motor Corp., reducing its ownership ration from 33.4% to just over 13%. Sales of Mazda shares ...

November 17, 2008

Stocks Stumble in Volatile Session

U.S. stocks closed sharply lower Monday after an intraday rally attempt fizzled. The choppy performance followed news that Citigroup (C) is cutting another 50,000-plus...

November 17, 2008

The Six Unknowns That Are Roiling the Stock Market

The stock market's behavior is downright strange lately. Professionals with decades of market experience scratch their heads as the market falls to its lowest point of...

November 17, 2008

S&P Picks and Pans: Citigroup, Lowe's, Goldman Sachs, Covidien, Gilead Sciences

S&P MAINTAINS HOLD RECOMMENDATION ON SHARES OF CITIGROUP (C; 9.25): In an unconfirmed report, Dow Jones reports that the size of Citigroup's proposed, near-term job ...

November 17, 2008

Analyst Actions: Alcoa, Hartford Financial, Agilent

UBS FINANCIAL DONWGRADES ALCOA TO NEUTRAL FROM BUY UBS Financial analyst Brian MacArthur says that aluminum industry fundamentals are challenged and he sees 2009 ...

November 17, 2008

Movers: Citigroup, Lowe's, Target, Goldman Sachs

Citigroup (C) says it plans to cut about 50,000 more jobs in the coming months and cut expenses by 20% from their peak as the global economy contracts. The plans were ...

November 14, 2008

S&P Picks and Pans: Citigroup, Sun Microsystems, Abercrombie & Fitch, RIM, ...

S&P MAINTAINS HOLD RECOMMENDATION ON SHARES OF CITIGROUP (C; 9.45): According to an unconfirmed Wall Street Journal article this morning, Citigroup is laying off at ...

November 14, 2008

Analyst Actions: Emerson Electric, Medcath

JP MORGAN DOWNGRADES EMERSON ELECTRIC TO UNDERWEIGHT FROM NEUTRAL JP Morgan analyst C. Stephen Tusa, Jr says he's concerned that, despite current strong energy ...

November 14, 2008

Movers: Kohl's, Citigroup, Sun Microsystems, Nokia

Kohl's (KSS) posts $0.52, vs. $0.61 a year ago, third quarter EPS on 6.7% lower same-store sales, 0.6% lower total sales. EPS seen a penny ahead of consensus. Sees ...

November 14, 2008

Stocks Tumble on Grim Economic Data

Ouch. Hopes of a fairly benign end to a volatile week were dashed in the final fifteen minutes of trading on Friday as U.S. stocks plunged, erasing all evidence of the...

November 14, 2008

China Bailout

Chinese authorities announced plans to spend $586 billion over the next two years in order to stimulate the economy. The fiscal stimulus plan, which represents about ...

November 13, 2008

Wall Street's Wild Gyrations

The stock market insanity continues. Stocks surged higher Thursday on the faint hope that the tumultuous market might have hit bottom. It was another whiplash session ...

November 13, 2008

Vital Signs: More Gloomy Economic Reports Are Coming

Get ready for more dismal October economic data this week. It begins with industrial production, moves on to housing starts, and ends with the leading indicators ...

November 13, 2008

S&P Picks and Pans: Wal-Mart, Intel, Marriott, Citigroup, NetApp

S&P REITERATES STRONG BUY OPINION ON SHARES OF WAL-MART STORES (WMT; 51.60): WMT reports October-quarter EPS of $0.77, vs. $0.69, $0.03 above our estimate. Results ...

November 13, 2008

Analyst Actions: Research in Motion, Intel, Crocs

GOLDMAN REMOVES RESEARCH IN MOTION FROM FAVORITE GROWTH LIST Goldman Sachs analyst Sarah Friar is removing Research in Motion (RIMM) shares from the Favorite Growth ...

November 13, 2008

Movers: Wal-Mart, Intel, NetApp, Citigroup

Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) posts $0.77, vs. $0.70 a year ago, third quarter EPS from continuing operations on 3.0% higher total US same-store sales without fuel, 3.3% ...

November 12, 2008

Dow Drops 411 Points After Paulson Changes Bailout Plan

Wall Street got some promised financial relief yanked away by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, sending stocks sharply lower on Wednesday. Paulson urged expansion of ...

November 12, 2008

S&P Picks and Pans: Best Buy, Ford, American Express, AK Steel, Xerox

S&P DOWNGRADES OPINION ON SHARES OF BEST BUY TO BUY FROM STRONG BUY (BBY; 22.05): Citing an unprecedented decline in consumer demand, BBY has slashed its EPS ...

November 12, 2008

Analyst Actions: J.Crew, AK Steel, Concur Technologies

BREAN MURRAY DOWNGRADES J.CREW GROUP (JCG) TO SELL FROM HOLD Brean Murray analyst Eric Beder says he believes J.Crew Group (JCG) has continued to reel under a weak ...