Merger Monday! Plus, Watch These Stocks After The Close
Stocks are higher on M&A
news and a fairly peaceful Iraqi election. Also, oil is lower, as
OPEC did not change output quotas at its meeting yesterday. Crude slid below
$47/barrel.
SBC is buying AT&T for $16 billion. SBC will issue .77942
shares for each T share and a $1.30 special dividend when the deal closes.
ExxonMobil
(
XOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported Q4 earnings of $8.42
billion–beating by 0.25–helped by higher crude prices.
Marsh & McClennan
(
MMC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) agreed to pay $850 million to settle
charges it took payoffs from insurance companies in return for referring
clients.
Earnings continue this week, including Disney
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) today after the bell; estimates are 0.29. Also look for Aflac
(
AFL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
to report 0.58 after the close. Tomorrow, look for Google
(
GOOG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
after the bell; estimates are 0.79-0.80.
Personal income for December rose +3.7%, above
estimates, and personal spending rose +0.8%, slightly below estimates. The
income gain would have been smaller if not for the one-time $3/share Microsoft
dividend paid on December 2. December new home sales rose 0.1%. Homebuilders
(
HGX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
are weak on the news.
Here are the major index numbers for January:
Dow Utilities  Â
+2.1%
S&P 500Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
-2.7%
Dow              Â
-2..8%
Russell 2000Â Â Â -4.9%
Nasdaq         Â
-5..3%
Dow Trans.     -6.0%
Trading trivia: February is historically one of
the worst months of the year. Interestingly, with the exception of 2001, the
last 13 post-election years have been down; this, according to The Stock
Trader’s Almanac. January has been down four of the last six years.
Strong sectors are: Internet
(
GIN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.45%Â
Healthcare
(
HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.49%Â Semis
(
SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.44%Â
Weak are: Gold
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.25%Â Â Homebuilders
(
HGX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-0.14%Â Â Drugs
(
DRG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.12%
Dow | 10,427.28 | |
S&P 500 | 1171.35 | |
Nasdaq | 2035.83 |
The dollar is +0.01 at
83.49
Crude Oil is -0.48 at
46.70
Gold is -2.70 to 420.60
ce=”Arial” size=”2″ face=”Arial”>Volume is 689 million on the NYSE and
805 million on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth is positive.
NYSE | Issues | |
Advancing | 2273 | Up Vol 457 |
Declining | 874 | Down Vol 172 |
2.60 | 2.65 | |
Nasdaq |
||
Advancing | 2003 | Up Vol 616 |
Declining | 923 | Down Vol 129 |
2.08 | 4.77 |
Stocks in the News
Lockheed Martin
(
LMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) won the contract to make
Marine
One and also won a $208 million Navy contract for Aegis missiles..
The FDA approved Mylan’s
(
MYL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) generic pain patch.
Wyeth
(
WYE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported a Q4 loss after taking a $4.5 billion charge
related to its recalled fen-phen diet drug.
Tyson
(
TSN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) missed by 0.13 and lowered 2005 guidance.
Brice Wightman