General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), Ford Motors (NYSE: F) and Chrysler - The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on the issue of a bailout for the Big Three on Tuesday and the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. Meanwhile the debate whether they should be bailed out or not rages on. GM shares were up 5.3% in premarket trading (8:03 am) and were up 10% around 10:38 am.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to get cash as it awaits the government decision, GM will sell its entire stake in Suzuki Motor Corp. for 22.37 billion yen ($230 million). GM was also in discussions with the German government about guarantees for its Opel division.
Low's Cos (NYSE: LOW) continued to get hurt in the third quarter by the downturn in the housing market. Profit fell 24% to $488 million, or 33 cents per share, but the results still beat Wall Street's expectations of 28 cents a share according to Thomson Reuters. Revenue actually climbed to $11.73 billion from $11.57 billion, but same-store sales sank 5.9%, but recovered when the session started, up 4.5% around 10:40 am.
Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) is another retailer scheduled to report earnings this morning following last week's dismal retail sales report. Target already warned last month third-quarter earnings may be below Wall Street's estimate of 52 cents. This estimate may have been reduced in the meanwhile. It also noted then that it expects 2008 full-year earnings to meet or exceed last year's $3.33 per share. Target reported a 24% decline in profit, but still managed to beat estimates of 48 cents per share by a penny, according to Reuters. Shares were 1.5% higher as of 10:45 am.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) announced its CEO and six other top executives at the bank decided not to receive cash or stock bonuses for 2008. While bonuses can be most of the compensation as last year, CEO Blankfein received total compensation of $54.0 million, according to calculations by The Associated Press, while his salary was $600,000. GS shares were down 3.3% in premarket trading (8:06 am), and declined 5.7% by 10:46 am.
Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) can't even stave off the effects of the economic slowdown in general and the auto industry specifically and may have its AAA rating cut by Fitch Ratings, the first such downgrade in 10 years. Shares declined 2% by 10:40 am.
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) on Monday is rolling out the first member of a highly anticipated microprocessor family -- the Intel Core i7. While this is one of its most important products in several years, it arrives at a time of economic slowdown and after last week Intel reduced its revenue forecast for the fourth quarter by more than $1 billion. Shares declined 1.2% by 10:47 am.
Analyst calls:
- McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) was upgraded from Neutral to Buy at UBS.
- YUM! Brands (NYSE: YUM) was upgraded from Neutral to Buy at UBS.
- Alcoa (NYSE: AA) was downgraded from Buy to Neutral at UBS. AA shares declined nearly 9% by 10:45 am.
- Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) was downgraded from Buy to Hold at Soleil. DIS shares declined 4.8% by 10:48 am.
Closing Bell: Dubai sends jitters throughout the market (S, BBY)
Heinz looking good after the second quarter?
Why isn't Bank of America updating its shareholders on CEO situation?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-17-2008 @ 5:36PM
t. merrill said...
get rid of the unions---workers take a salary cut--------pay part of there health care-----so we can give the auto people help from washington--------they must give up somthing if they want the money