Everything was looking up this morning, up until the reaction to companies and their earnings reports. The market felt directionless all day after losing its initial gains despite a new home sales data release that was well above expectations. Ben Bernanke defended his stance on avoiding the next depression. The SEC also issued new short sale abuse guidelines. Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 9,108.59 +15.35 (0.17%)
S&P 500 982.19 +2.93 (0.30%)
Nasdaq 1,967.89 +1.93 (0.10%)
Top 10 Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) was an earnings disappointment as the insurer said its profit fell 28% on higher medical expenses. Furthermore, it expects that trend to continue for the rest of the year. Shares were down 2.6% at $25.73 late in the trading session.
Citigroup (NYSE: C) was down after exchanging $20.3 billion in aggregate liquidation value of convertible and non-convertible preferred shares, 99% of its tender goal. That dilution is going to be over 5.8 billion shares. But there is also the question of whether or not it should pay $100 million to a trader who made the firm $700 million. Citi shares were down by almost 2% at $2.68 ahead of the closing bell.
Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) posted $0.39 EPS vs. $0.32 estimates, but there were issues inside the numbers and some are worried about charges ahead after its profits on a net basis were down close to 80%. Shares are down close to 4% at $16.32 late in the session.
LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (NASDAQ: ERIC) won the fire sale auction for bankrupt Nortel's North American wireless business. The price tag is $1.2 billion. This is believed to be the most profitable and most promising part of what was left inside Nortel. Shares were off by 3% at $9.36 late in the trading session.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) fell after it posted a 7% drop in profit, although this lower figure met estimates as the figures included Alltel. It earned $3.16 billion, or $0.52 EPS, as revenues were up by 11% to $26.86 billion to meet those estimates. Shares were down 2% at $30.85 late in the trading session.
Closing Bell: Economic Catapult for Thanksgiving & Black Friday (WMT, TGT, GRMN, GOOG, MSFT)
Deere up on Q4 earnings performance
Reid Hoffman: LinkedIn will go public (at some point)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-27-2009 @ 5:08PM
al said...
Mr. Hall is part of the infamous Citi unit, Philbro, that has played the oil spot market for years and now is FINALLY being correctly identified as a strong contributing factor to the wild ride of contract futures pricing.
For a $100 mil compensation package, the only question I would ask is what added value did Mr. Hall and his minions provide? Was there any benefit to the economy or society in general? The obvious answer is no, instead they "helped" ship $700 Bil of US dollars overseas.
Sure it's a free country, but one can either add or take away from our economic health and I would place Mr. Hall's impact in the latter category. Call me old fashioned, but he ain't no $100 Mil superstar !!!!!!
7-27-2009 @ 5:09PM
BHarrison said...
So, the reality is that our economy is merely "treading water", waiting for something significant to develop. Meanwhile, all of the propaganda machines are trying to convince the American people that the worst is over . . . and that simply is not true.
7-27-2009 @ 5:17PM
BHarrison said...
TO: Al
Well Al, Mr. hall and his minions are just typical examples of a lot of people in the markets. They make their money by getting fees for transactions (buy or sell) and use market manipulations and false propaganda to move the markets up and down for their benefits. In essence, too much of the markets are nothing more than a manipulted con game . . . an investor might have a better chance and more enjoyment by going to Las Vegas where "the house" wins 90% of the time. The American people are being conned out of their life savings by these crooks.