Closing Bell: What a week -- the beatings will continue until morale improves

Posted Jun 27th 2008 4:22PM by Douglas McIntyre
Filed under: After the Bell, Major Movement, Earnings Reports, XM Satellite Radio (XMSR), Merrill Lynch (MER), Palm Inc (PALM), Economic Data

Oil was again the headline event today with the price per barrel near $142.00 and talk of $150.00 sooner rather than later. But all in all this day was far "less bad" than it could have been, especially if you consider the selloff yesterday, and consider that this was a Friday ahead of a shortened work week where traders are leery of holding positions. To top it off, the June quarter ends on this coming Monday.

The University of Michigan posted consumer confidence today at a 28-year low as inflationary pressures and fears remain high. The final June reading fell down to 56.4 from 59.8 in May and down from the prior June preliminary release of 56.7.

Here are the unofficial closing bell levels for today:
DJIA 11,365.20 -.85%
S&P 500 Index 1,279.05 -.33%
NASDAQ 2,315.63 -.25%
52-WEEK LOWS
Early-Bird Technology Upgrades & Downgrades

Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE: MER) dropped further after Lehman said it was worried Merrill could write down another $5.4 billion in he Q2 report alone. Shares were down in the the final minutes of trading.

Micron Tech (NYSE: MU) also saw its shares hit hard today with more than a 10% drop to by the final minutes of trading. The company's earnings report was very lackluster and analysts were not positive at all despite the low price of the stock.

Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) may as well change its name to SLAP. The company fell big after yet another disappointing earnings report. Shares were down some in today's final minutes.

XM Satellite Radio inc. (NASDAQ: XMSR) was actually up on the day, something that seems unusual for satellite radio stocks. The company signed a term loan and extended its chairman employment contract out into 2009. Shares were up in the final minutes of the trading day.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Tags: inthenews, MER, MU, PALM, XMSR

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

6-27-2008 @ 5:33PM

william lindblad said...

If you think that morale is going to improve you are certainly in the minority. The CPI indicators are up for all of Asia. Ditto, Europe. The ECB is going to raise rates, count on it, they have a hawk in charge. German consumer confidence is at 10 years lows. New Zealand's economy is shrinking. Tomato's are still making people sick. The levies are breaking. The only good news is that it is raining across most of the U.S. and it will put off the water shortage, at least for a while. Same can be said for exports, but that is going to drought in a few months.
C'est la vie

6-28-2008 @ 12:31AM

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6-28-2008 @ 5:13AM

Sally said...

William add the following:

Rising inflation, especially food and energy; Weakest dollar in decades; Housing industry in a bust with the bottom not in sight; Foreclosures high and increasing; Credit markets crippling major banks due to lack of government oversight; Interest rate at banks near a low; A $12 -14 BILLION A MONTH war that Bush declared over 5 years ago; Over 4,000 soldiers dead, over 30,000 with loss of limbs or severely brain damaged from the war; American business expanding plants overseas to manufacture products then ship them back into America; Some 10 - 12 million illegal immigrants left into the country so business can have cheap labor and not one CEO put in jail.

6-28-2008 @ 7:48PM

al said...

People can be divided into 3 groups. Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened.
The fact inflation is ticking up.... wonder if that has anything to do with the higher cost of oil and agricultural commodity prices. The USD getting softer... could it be due to the overspend by Bush administration in non-performing assets like war? The financials in the equity markets getting smoked... could that be the cause of high leverage, low yields and an abundance of new derivatives?
Tell me something we don't know. I am looking for something that will give the market another leg down. If oil goes to $150, who cares, pain has been felt since $70. Writedowns by banks ditto. But a move by FNM or FRE now thats news.