Which Of These Stocks Is The Most Likely Takeover Candidate?
The
markets came up mixed after lackluster trading had price action
flirting with the unchanged level for most of the afternoon. In a session once
again marked by low volume and a lack of news, it appeared that most of Wall
Street remained absent. Kicking off a New Year Thursday, traders will be looking
for guidance from institutions in the form of higher volume.
Dow
Jones Industrial Average
(
$INDU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed +0.10%
at 8,341.63. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed
+0.04%
at 879.82. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed -0.30%
at 1,335.50.
The biggest gainers on the day
were airlines
(
$XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +3.79%, natural gas
(
$XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.81%, computer hardware
(
$HWI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.26%.
Leading to the downside were telecoms
(
$XTC.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.85%, software
(
$GSO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.38%, banks
(
$BIX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-0.33%.
In economic news, consumer
confidence disappointed at 80.30 vs. a consensus of 86.0.
The Ten Year Note
(
TYH3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was -070 at 115 015.
The U.S. Dollar
(
DXH3 |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was -0.20 at 102.26.
Volume was below
average, with the NYSE coming in at 1,051,637,000 and the Nasdaq at
1,152,937,000.
Market breadth was positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of 1.75, and up
volume over down volume by a 1.58 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining
issues came in at 1.37, and up volume beat down volume by a 1.13 ratio.
The
VIX
was -0.53 at 32.03. The TRIN
was +0.17 at 1.11.
Leading the Dow higher:
McDonalds
(
MCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.09% at 16.08, Walt Disney
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.68% at 16.31, International Business Machines
(
IBM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+1.63% at 77.50, Home Depot
(
HD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.43% at 24.02, United Tech
(
UTX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.81% at 61.94, and Coca-Cola
(
KO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.75% at 43.84.
Stocks in the news:
The Wall Street Journal
reports that a consolidation in the software industry may be taking place due to
recent acquisitions by International Business Machines
(
IBM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +1.63%
at 77.50, Yahoo!
(
YHOO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.78% at 16.35, Veritas
(
VRTS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-2.55% at 15.62, Cognos Inc.
(
COGN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.12% at 23.45, and Sybase
Inc.
(
SY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). Potential takeover targets cited were BEA Systems
(
BEAS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+0.17% at 11.47, Citrix Systems
(
CTXS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.57% at 12.32, Legato
Systems
(
LGTO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +5.67% at 5.03, and Netegrity Inc.
(
NETE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+3.50% at 3.25.
Conglomerate Tyco
(
TYC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
+11.27% at 17.08, has released the results of its internal investigation, and
reports no evidence of accounting fraud. Lehman Brothers has given the company a
clean bill of health.
Goldman Sachs has been active
in the retail sector today, as it raised fourth-quarter estimates on JC Penney
(
JCP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), -0.52% at 23.01, to $0.65 per share from $0.60 per share, and lowered
fourth-quarter estimates for Federated Department Stores
(
FD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.42%
at 28.76, to $1.90 per share $1.95 per share, and May’s Department Stores
(
MAY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +0.21% at 22.98, to $1.25 per share from $1.28 per share.