Merger Monday — Here’s The Latest
Stocks
opened higher with the US industrial output rising 0.8%. Cingular
Wireless
(
SBC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) came out ahead on the AT&T Wireless
(
AWE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
bidding contest, making a $15/share offer. The all-cash offer is worth
$41 billion, a premium of 30% over AWE’s Friday’s close. Combined, the company
would have 46 million customers with revenue exceeding $32 billion. NTT
DoCoMo
(
DCM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) which holds a 16% stake in AWE is expected to sell its
stake. Farm equipment maker Deere
(
DE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported earnings that more
than doubled with strength in its agriculture, construction and forestry
divisions. Earnings came in at $170.8 million on revenue of $3.48 billion.
Disney’s
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) board rejected Comcast’s
(
CMCSK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) offer,
saying the $47.57 billion value was too low. Comcast retorted that it has no
plans to acquire Disney at current valuations and is not running a consent
solicitation to replace its board.
| Dow | +81.56 |
10709.55 |
| S&P 500 |
+11.74 |
1157.59 |
| Nasdaq | +25.79 |
2079.35 |
The day’s leading sectors are
Airlines
(
XAL.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.69%, Amex Gold Bugs
(
HUI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+2.43%, Gold and Silver
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.37%, Healthcare
(
HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.87%.
Economic news releases included
a rise in the Capacity Utilization at 76.2%, NY Empire State index at 42.05.
Industrial output also was higher-than-expected at +0.8%
10-year Notes are +30 at
114 295
Dollar is -0.58 at 85.10
Gold is +4.90 at 415.70
Crude Oil is +0.12 at
34.68
Euro is +1.02 at 128.24
Volume is 710,000,000 on
the NYSE, and 849,000,000 on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 2350 | Up Vol 582 |
| Declining | 832 | Down Vol 120 |
| Ratio | 2.83 | 4.83 |
| Nasdaq | ||
| Advancing | 2057 | Up Vol 645 |
| Declining | 1028 | Dow Vol 192 |
| Ratio | 2.02 | 3.37 |
Top Dow stocks are:
Hewlett Packard [HPQ|HPQ],
+2.32% at 23.55, Caterpillar
(
CAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), +2.22% at 79.18, WalMart
[WMT|WMT] +1.04% at
57.36, Intel [INTC|INTC],
+1.62% at 30.61.
Stocks in the news:
Janus Capital
(
JNS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose higher
on a favorable Barron’s article. Barron’s suggested that JNS shares can
appreciate 20% higher as its balance sheet debt reduction program would lead to
higher earnings.
National City
(
NCC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announced a
deal to acquire Ohio-based Provident Financial Group
(
PFGI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) in a
stock deal worth $2.1 billion. Each Provident share will be exchanged for 1.135
National share.
Krispy Kreme
(
KKD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said it
expects fourth-quarter earnings to be 26 cents a share with increased revenue.
Looking ahead, the company expects to earn $1.17 a share for fiscal year 2005.