Before the bell: Senate approves bill, futures down; UBS, MOS, MAR, IMCL, GE, EBAY ...

Posted Oct 2nd 2008 8:20AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Before the Bell, Earnings Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Deals, Google (GOOG), Apple Inc (AAPL), eBay (EBAY), General Electric (GE), Market Matters, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), Marriott Intl'A' (MAR), Lilly (Eli) (LLY), Economic Data, ImClone Systems (IMCL), Federal Reserve, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (POT)

U.S. stock futures were flat to lower Thursday morning following the senate approval of its version of the $700 billion bailout package. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve said it was considering a rate cut. Following all the economic data released Wednesday indicating the U.S. is in a recession, this isn't surprising. The ECB is also meeting today to consider its move. Today, the Labor Department will report weekly initial jobless claims and the Commerce Department will release August factory orders. Regulators also extended the ban on short-selling shares of some 800 financial companies.

UBS (NYSE: UBS), which has been hard hit by the credit crisis, said Thursday it expects to return to profit in the third quarter after four quarters of losses. The bank has substantially reduced its exposure to U.S. commercial and residential mortgages. The bank wrote down more than $40 billion and raised close to $30 billion.

Mosaic (NYSE: MOS) shares are down about 20% in pre-market trading after it missed analyst estimates when it reported its fiscal first-quarter earnings.

Marriott International (NYSE: MAR) was expected to report earnings of 32 cents a share in the third quarter. The company reported 34 centsearnings per share excluding an 8 cents adjustment.

ImClone Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: IMCL) revealed late Wednesday its mystery suitor as none other than Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY). Lilly was supposed to offer $70 a share by midnight and I have not seen reports yet that a formal offer was issued. Without one, Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) will likely not hike up its own offer of $62 per share.
General Electric (NYSE: GE) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A) is investing $3 billion in GE. The company also said it plans to sell at least $12 billion worth of common stock to the public. GE shares, however, are still declining this morning some 4.5% in pre-market action after getting hit more than 10% Wednesday at some point following an analyst estimate cut. It closed down 3.9% though.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Wednesday unveiled a $4.4 trillion plan for reducing U.S. dependence on fossil fuels, advocating for greater adoption of alternative energy.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) - BusinessWeek wonders Where does Apple go from here? suggesting Apple has reached a product plateu and while it shouldn't slow down on the innovation front, perhaps it should concentrate on important innovations to existing products but most important, expanding Apple's business and scope.

Analyst calls:

Morgan Stanley downgraded eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) from Overweight to Equal-Weight.
Merrill Lynch downgraded Potash (NYSE: POT), Mosaic (NYSE: MOS) and Agrium (NYSE: AGU) from Buy to Underperform.
Merrill Lynch downgraded Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) from Buy to Neutral.
Merrill Lynch upgraded BP (NYSE: BP) from Underperform to Neutral.

Tags: aapl, agu, bmy, bp, ge, goog, imcl, inthenews, lly, mar, mon, mos, pot, ubs

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

10-02-2008 @ 1:44PM

M E S said...

Ok what it is the Bail out going to cost? What if nothing is done? Crash and Burn! Retirement account's, will be crushed. You saved nothing by Voting NO. Retirement and other account's have already lost more money than the bail out price. If we are NOT bailed out we lose everything. The VOTE, I say YES, then figure out the broke links. This will cost us either way but common sense would tell you the Bail out is the cheapest if you want to be retired in 20 years or less.