Stocks in the news: GM, F, BAC, HIG, WMT, AAPL, MOT, MET, IFX ... (update)

Posted Dec 8th 2008 8:20AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Apple Inc (AAPL), Wal-Mart (WMT), Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Motorola (MOT), Exxon Mobil (XOM), McDonald's (MCD), Alcoa Inc (AA), Bank of America (BAC), Boeing Co (BA), Merrill Lynch (MER), Tribune Co. (TRB), FedEx Corp (FDX), Dow Chemical (DOW), MetLife Inc. (MET)

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) and Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) soared about 19% each in Frankfurt as Congress is getting closer to approve a bailout for the Big 3 automakers. The White House and Democratic congressional leaders are narrowing their differences and could agree on a deal and bring to a vote soon. Both shares are trading 21% and 18% higher respectively in premarket (8:12 am). By midday, both automakers' stocks were up about 14%.

Other gainers in Frankfurt include oil and gas producers, commodity stocks and financials: Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) jumped 10%, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) shares rose 11% and Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) gained about 5%. In premarket, AA shares are 6.4%, 5% and 2.4% higher (8:15 am). Commodities, industrials, financial and oil & gas stocks continued to gain well throughout the session with Alcoa up 14% by midday and BAC up 11%. XOM was only up 2.5% thought.

Tribune Co. may file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as soon as this week, according to sources of The Wall Street Journal, as the newspaper industry worsens.

Hartford Financial (NYSE: HIG) shares are continuing their massive upward trend from Friday after the insurer raised its full-year operating profit forecast and said the capital outlook at its insurance units was strong. Shares are up 13.4% in premarket trading. HIG stock had simiilar gains by midday trading.

After shareholders had approved on Friday Bank of America's takeover of Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER), Merrill's CEO John Thain has suggested to directors that he get a 2008 bonus of as much as $10 million. According to WSJ sources, the company's compensation committee is resisting his request.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) will start offering Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone by the end of December and become the second mass-market retail chain to do so. Our own Brian White had already reported on this last week. AAPL shares are trading 3.7% higher in premarket (8:19 am). While WMT was down nearly 2% by midday trading, AAPL shares gained 4.7%.

Boeing Co. (NYES: BA)'s engineers union at its Wichita, Kan., said the company called for a recess in contract talks without saying when they'd resume. BA shares are gaining with all industrials today, up 6.5% by midday trading.

FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) announced Friday it will lift rates for FedEx Freight and FedEx National LTL 5.7% on Jan. 5. The rise does not affect FedEx Express and FedEx Ground rates. FDX shares are some of the few this morning showing signs of weakness. FDX shares lost nearly 1% by midday trading.

Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT)'s long-term corporate-credit rating was cut to BB+, or junk status, from BBB, by Standard & Poor's. MOT shares were down 1.4% by midday trading.

MetLife (NYSE: MET) issued a forecast for 2009 operating earnings that fell short of Wall Street expections. But not all was bad as it had "relatively modest credit losses and substantial derivative gains." Shares are trading 4% higher in premarket (8:20 am). Shares of MET pared gains, up only 0.8% by midday trading.

Infineon Technologies (NYSE: IFX) shares are down 7.5% in premarket trading after Goldman Sachs cut its rating to Neutral from Buy. IFX shares were down over 6.5% by midday trading.

[Update:
Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) shares were up 7.7% after the company announced it would slash 5,000 jobs and close 20 plants.
McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD) shares were down 2.7% by midday trading despite the fast food restaurant chain reporting 7.7% growth in same-store sales in November.]

Tags: aa, aapl, ba, bac, dow, f, fdx, gm, ifx, inthenews, mcd, mer, met, mot, trb, wmt, xom