U.S. stock futures were much higher Tuesday morning, following Monday's historic record plunge of 777.7 points in the Dow after the House of Representatives failed to pass the proposed $700 billion bailout plan. Investors hope a similar rescue package would pass soon and will tune in to listen to President Bush at 8:45 a.m. EST. Meanwhile, across the globe, Europe bailed out another bank, but markets in Europe are mixed. Asian markets, which close earlier, recorded mostly large declines. Also on tap today is data from the housing sector and a measure of Chicago-area manufacturing and consumer confidence for September.It is also quite possible many have come in to buy at these prices for at least a short-term gain. If the VIX volatility index is any indication, then stocks may climb in the next few weeks.
Of stocks in focus:
National City Corp. (NYSE: NCC), whose stock plunged over 63% Monday on overall weakness but also as Moody's Investors Service placed its senior debt rating of A3 on review for a possible downgrade, is bouncing back over 15% 30% in pre-market trading.
Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), which MOnday agreed to acquire Wachovia's (NYSE: WB) banking business for a knock-down price of $2.16 billion, with help from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is also seeing its stock recovering from the over11% drop Monday by about 5.5% in pre-market action.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) - after leading a tech selloff Monday and setting a new 52-week low, AAPL shares are showing much of a rebound. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), which closed at $381 Monday, is showing some signs of new life, bouncing over 3% to $394 in pre-market trade. Similarly RIM (NASDAQ: RIMM) is bouncing 3.8% this morning.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) - The Financial Times reported Goldman is seeking to purchase up to $50 billion in assets from pressured U.S. banks, supporting its status change into commercial banking. GS shares are up over 3.5% in pre-market trading after closing down over 12.5% Monday.
Mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) are facing a federal grand jury investigation into their accounting practices. Critics have long questioned the companies' bookkeeping. FNM shares are rebounding nearly 9% in pre-market trade.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Google, Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) and other web firms won a copyright victory in Congress Friday regarding Orphan Works for works whose owners cannot be located. Companies will only have to make a "reasonably diligent" search to locate a copyright owner before using their work in media including the Internet, and limits compensation required for the use of an infringed work.
Walgreen Co.(NYSE: WAG) reported Monday its net income rose almost 12% from a year ago thanks to cutting expenses and despite a broad decline in consumer spending. Results were inline with estimates. Shares have not reacted much so far.
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) - The Wall Street Journal reports Pfizer will abandon its heart disease medicine development efforts, which include its cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor as part of a broad research reshuffling it plans to announce Tuesday. It may also abandon therapies for obesity and bone health, to focus on more-profitable areas, such as cancer.
Analyst calls:
- Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) was upgraded at Robert W. Baird from Underperform to Neutral. WFC shares are up 5.5% in pre-market trade.
- Circuit City (NYSE: CC) was downgraded by RBC Captial Markets from Sector Perform to Underperform.
- Abercrombie & Fitch (NASDAQ: ANF) was upgraded by Friedman Billings from Market Perform to Outperform. Price target $45.
- Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) was upgraded at Piper Jaffray from Neutral to Buy with a $22 price target. INTC shares are bouncing 3.6% in pre-market action.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-30-2008 @ 8:57AM
Beltway Greg said...
A week ago I wrote to not do anything with stocks. I hate to be correct but.....here's the deal. America is now on sale. BOA. C. JPM, GS hug them close. Apple. Who would've thought I would get to ride the same ride twice in one year? Will it go lower? Doubt it. $260 this year, not going to happen. But, $140 by Xmas. Definitely doable. We need to have some enhanced economics education in our colleges and high schools. Our legislators have no idea what is going on in world markets. They know about as much as McCain's VP choice. Do I fault Bush or Greenspan for this? Not really. Cheap money abounded but blaming Greenspan for the actions of those on Wall Street is like blaming WalMart when somebody takes a shotgun they've purchased at the mart and shoots a fellow citizen. Greenspan should've opposed the tax cuts and Bernacke should've opposed the shortsighted spending packages. I cannot believe that the same people who opposed this plan supported sending funny money to stimulate the economy to those most unlikely to save it. But that's what we've become, 70% of our economy is based on consumer spending and that has become increasingly dependent on credit. And what about Iraq? $700 billion would seem cheap at this point. I wish the congress and senate would have debated that failed policy.
Beltway Greg
Deep in the Investing Bunker.