$43 Billion US Entertainment Company Formed Today
Stocks are mixed after yesterday’s
triple-digit Dow gains. The EU gave GE
(
GE |
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PowerRating)
the go-ahead to purchase Vivendi’s
(
V |
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PowerRating) US assets, making it the largest
media and entertainment company in the US. Software giant Microsoft
(
MSFT |
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PowerRating)
was hit with a lawsuit by RealNetworks
(
RNWK |
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PowerRating) for using its
“monopoly” power to make it harder for consumers to use competing technologies.
Real accused Microsoft of restricting how PC makers install competing media
players, forcing use of its own player. Janus Capital
(
JNS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) made an
announcement to restore $31.5 million related to previously disclosed frequent
trading of accounts. Colgate-Palmolive
(
CL |
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PowerRating) agreed to purchase Swiss
oral-care products company GABA Holdings for between $630 million and $830
million. The acquisition is expected to dilute Colgate’s 2004 earnings by 3%.
| Dow | -0.97 | 10247.45 |
| S&P 500 | -3.75 | 1085.29 |
| Nasdaq | -10.32 |
1945.77 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Banks
(
BKX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.19%, Utilities [UTY.X|UTY.X]
+.17%, Financials
(
NF.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.05%, and Disk Drives
(
DDX.X |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+0.05%,
Weak today are Amex Gold
Bugs [HUI.X|HUI.X] -2.53%, and Gold
and Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -2.36%.
No Economic news
releases today.
10-year Notes are -20
at 114 035
The dollar
is +0.29 at 88.53
Gold is -1.40 at 409.70
Crude Oil is -0.38 at
33.33
Volume is 735,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 879,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is negative.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1302 | Up Vol 302 |
| Declining | 1778 | Down Vol 385 |
| Ratio | 1.34 | 1.22 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 339 | Up Vol 339 |
| Declining | 494 | Down Vol 494 |
| Ratio | 1.44 | 1.44 |
Top Dow stocks are:
Alcoa
(
AA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +3.60% at 37.60,
Eastman Kodak [EK|EK],
+2.83% at 24.37, 3M |MMM|MMM],
+1.24% at 84.51, and Altria [MO|MO],
+0.86% at 54.94.
Stocks in the news:
Verizon
(
VZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) received a favorable court
ruling today with its shares hitting a 2-month high. A U.S. appeals court ruled
that the music industry’s methods for tracking copiers of music over the
Internet are not authorized by law. Verizon had been forced to reveal the
identities of subpoenaed customers.
Cal-Marine Foods
(
CALM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose 16%,
reporting record second-quarter income of $17.6 million compared with $2 million
a year ago. Revenue rose more than 50% to $149.9 million due to higher demand
for eggs — encouraged by the popular high protein diet.
Linux software maker Red Hat
(
RHAT |
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News |
PowerRating)
rose 15% on a solid earnings. Net income for the third quarter rose to $4.1
million, up from $214,000 in the year-ago period. Revenue jumped 36% to $33.1
million. Banc of America Securities also upgraded Red Hat to buy on favorable
subscription bookings.
Tektronix
(
TEK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported higher income
of $36.5 million on sales of $217.9 million. It expects third-quarter sales to
be around $225 million with earnings of about 23 cents per share.
Payroll processor Paychex
(
PAYX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported second-quarter earnings of $80.7 million on revenues of $312.1 million,
meeting analysts estimates. Wachovia downgraded the stock on the news.
bricew@tradingmarkets.com