Morning Coffee with TradingMarkets
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Good Morning! |
January Sees Jobs Losses of 17K… Microsoft Bids on Yahoo… Exxon, Chevron Report Today… Motorola Breakup Rumored… Cramer: Time’s Up for Tech Stocks… Budget Deficit May Top $400 Billion… Google Disappoints with Earnings Miss… Alcoa, Chinalco Buy $15 Billion Stake in Rio Tinto… Does a Down January Mean a Down 2008?
Asian stocks up… European stocks up… Greenbacks moving lower against the Euro, higher against the yen…And the futures are trending strongly higher in the hour before the bell.
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TradingMarkets 5 Business Stories You Need to Know |
Microsoft Offers $44.6 Billion for Yahoo – Bloomberg
In an unsolicited offer, the software giant has offered $31 per share in cash or stock for Internet search engine and hub Yahoo! Inc. The offer represents a premium of some 62% above Yahoo’s closing price on Thursday. If the deal goes through, it will represent the largest takeover ever in the technology industry and give Microsoft the opportunity to directly challenge Google.
Non-Farm Payrolls Unexpectedly Soft – Reuters
First time since August 2003 that the economy lost jobs. Government sector lost 18,000 jobs while the private sector gained 1,000. Average hourly earnings up slightly. Education and health services showed greatest jobs growth. Factory and construction jobs continue to decline. The dollar was weaker in the hour leading up to the payroll report this morning, as traders anticipated that low job growth will encourage further rate relief from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Exxon’s $10 Billion Quarter – CNN Money
Analysts are expecting Exxon to announce the highest profits ever for a U.S. company this morning. Exxon has made a habit out of record earnings as the price of crude oil rallied above $100 late last year. Exxon’s PowerRating reveals the stock to be likely to perform as well as the average stock over the next year. But there are two other stocks in its industry group that are even more likely than Exxon to be more reliable and better performers than the average stock in a year’s time.
Motorola Looks to Spin-Off Handset Unit – Bloomberg
Shares of Motorola leapt 10% in after hours trading on Thursday with news that the company was considering a breakup that would spin-off Motorola’s mobile handset business. Poor performance in the fourth quarter was blamed largely on sales issues with Motorola’s handset unit. When it comes to the Communication Equipment industry, Motorola’s PowerRating leaves more than a little to be desired. Fortunately, there are at least six stocks in that industry group that stand a better chance than Motorola of being higher than the average stock after a year.
Google’s Growth Story Stalls – Wall Street Journal
Missing estimates for both profits and revenues disappointed investors yesterday, who sold shares of Google aggressively in after hours trading on Thursday. Google saw 17% profit growth in the fourth quarter, down sharply from the 46% profit growth from the third quarter. Google’s PowerRating is telling investors that the stock is likely to perform as well as the average stock over the next year. But there are some truly low PowerRating stocks in Google’s industry group, Internet Information Providers, that do stand a good chance of disappointing investors in a year’s time.
For more stories as they happen, go to our Breaking News section.
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TradingMarkets 7 Stocks You Need to Know for Today |
Here are 7 stocks for traders for today from TradingMarkets.com:
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Bebe Stores
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BEBE |
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PowerRating) beat earnings expectations on Thursday afternoon, reporting $0.26 EPS versus a consensus of $0.25 EPS. BEBE’s Short Term PowerRating is 4. -
Google
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GOOG |
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PowerRating) missed earnings on Thursday, announcing $4.43 EPS versus expectations of $4.45 EPS. GOOG’s Short Term PowerRating is 4. -
Agilysys
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PowerRating) reports earnings on Friday before the market opens, with traders looking for $0.20 EPS. AGYS’s Short Term PowerRating is 3. -
Arch Coal
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ACI |
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PowerRating) is poised to announce $0.47 EPS before the bell on Friday morning. ACI’s Short Term PowerRating is 4. -
Analysts are looking for Chevron
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CVX |
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PowerRating) to report $2.24 EPS before the market opens on Friday. CVX’s Short Term PowerRating is 4. - When Exxon Mobil
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XOM |
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PowerRating) reports quarterly results on Friday morning, look for $2.26 EPS. XOM’s Short Term PowerRating is 4. - NYMEX
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NMX |
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PowerRating) should announce $0.66 EPS tomorrow morning before the market opens. NMX’s Short Term PowerRating is 3.
For a list of today’s highest PowerRating stocks, click here.
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TradingMarkets 5 Top PowerRatings Stocks for Today |
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Company
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Symbol | PowerRatings |
| United Therapeutics | UTHR | 10 |
| JA Solar | JASO | 9 |
| Vanda Pharmaceuticals | VNDA | 8 |
| Transocean | RIG | 8 |
| RehabCare Group | RHB | 8 |
| » View More Stocks |
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TradingMarkets Tracking the Wizards |
Hedge Fund Says No to Bank of America, Countrywide Deal – NY Times
Having failed to block a takeover of Northern Rock, SRM Global, a British hedge fund, has moved to fight Bank of America’s $4 billion takeover of Countrywide Financial. SRM Global, which has a 5.2% stake in Countrywide, says that Bank of America is buying the company “on the cheap” and less than half of the company’s true value.
New Long/Short Hedge Fund from Morgan Stanley – FINalternatives
Morgan Stanley plans to launch a new hedge fund, the Morgan Stanley Global Long/Short Fund, which will invest in 20 to 25 long/short equity hedge funds. The fund of funds will have a minimum required investment of $100,000, dramatically lower than the $1 million minimum required by most hedge funds.
Buying Farms as a Play on Food Prices? – Times Online
Rich investors in England are spending more and more money on agricultural real estate in places like Russia, Argentina and Uruguay. With land in these regions remaining cheap and grain prices still very high, many investors are moving their money from stocks to farms.
View Portfolios of Prominent Investors
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TradingMarkets Playbook |
Stocks remain under pressure. But recent buying is starting to suggest that we may see tests of near term highs before we see a test of recent lows. The number of over extended stocks in our TradingMarkets Stock Indicators list is staggering, with many stocks aggressively higher in recent days. Traders focused on buying low and selling high will need to be wary of chasing many of these names.
In the same way that the recession everyone is waiting for often does not happen, the pullback everyone expects may be stubborn in coming. The markets without a doubt are short-term overbought, so some pullback is increasingly likely. And in the context of a market that has already been battered for months, such weakness may be a particularly good opportunity to consider the higher PowerRating stocks.
David Penn is Senior Editor at TradingMarkets.com.
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