Morning Coffee with TradingMarkets
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Good Morning! |
Societe Generale Reports $7.2 Billion Trading Loss… Afternoon Surge Lifts Dow 200+… Fed Slashes Cash Rate by 75 Basis Points… Microsoft, AT&T, E-Trade Report Earnings Today… Chinese Economy Expands By 11%… Existing Homes Expected Weak… Ford Announces Narrower Quarterly Losses… Nokia Earnings Surge 44%… Ebay Misses… Initial Jobless Claims Lower…
Asian stocks up… European stocks up… Greenbacks moving lower against the Euro, higher against yen… And the futures are trending higher in the hour before the bell.
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TradingMarkets 5 Business Stories You Need to Know |
Societe Generale Reports $7.2 Billion Trading Loss – Bloomberg
Societe Generale SA said unauthorized bets on stock index futures by an unidentified employee caused a $7.2 billion trading loss, the largest in European banking history.
Stocks Rally After Intraday Plunge – The Wall Street Journal
Dow Jones Industrials swing more than 600 points from intraday low to closing high, finishing up nearly 300 points. News of potential assistance to major bond insurers helped fuel rally.
Analysts Anticipate Disappointing E-Trade Earnings – CNN Money
Large home equity portfolio continues to hamper company’s financial performance despite efforts to stabilize assets under management. Analysts expect significant losses when the company reports today. According to our PowerRatings, E-Trade is a stock likely to underperform that happens to be in an industry group that is likely to outperform. Visit PowerRatings.net to see what better options exist for investors.
AT&T’s Quarterly Profits Strong – CNN Money
Strength in wireless division buoy AT&T earnings in the face of recession fears. AT&T is an average stock in an industry that, according to our PowerRatings, is likely to outperform going forward. We have at least five stocks that are more likely than AT&T to be higher in a year’s time.
Stimulus Package Nears Completion – Reuters
White House, Congress reportedly close to agreement on economic stimulus package. President Bush insists that the economic plan be “simple, efficient and robust.” Current plans call for $150 billion in tax cuts, rebates and incentives.
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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Qualcomm
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QCOM |
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PowerRating) missed earnings expectations on Wednesday, with
$0.52 EPS versus expectations of $0.53 EPS. -
AT&T
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T |
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PowerRating) said Q4 earnings jumped nearly 62%, and matched analyst EPS
expectations. -
Ford
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F |
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PowerRating) missed expectations, but said that Q4 losses were half of the same
period last year. -
Lennar
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LEN |
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PowerRating) missed earnings estimates by a long shot, and
reported an increase in quarterly losses from $195.6 million the year earlier to
$1.25 billion this year. -
Lockheed Martin
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LMT |
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PowerRating) beat earnings expectations with $1.89 EPS
over $1.69 EPS. - Northrop Grunman
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NOC |
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PowerRating) also beat by penny, $1.32 EPS over an
estimated $1.31 EPS. - Sunpower
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SPWR |
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PowerRating) beat analyst consensus, reporting $0.39 EPS.
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 |
| Rigel Pharmaceuticals | RIGL | 9 |
| Bunge | BG | 9 |
| Vimpel Communications | VIP | 8 |
| Stereotaxis | STXS | 8 |
| Sprint Nextel | S | 8 |
| View More Stocks |
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TradingMarkets Tracking the Wizards |
Cramer Picks the Top Stories of 2008 – New York
From Goldman Sachs trading at $300 a share to Verizon’s ability to conquer the cable market, Mad Money guru Jim Cramer predicts the stories that will shape the business world in 2008.
Deutsche Bank Star Trader Joins Rose Grove – FINalternatives
Top Deutsche Bank Trader is first high-level defection since job cuts at the investment bank began in earnest last week. Stephen Murphy will specialize in European preferred securities at Rose Grove Capital Management.
Societe Generale Trader Causes Massive Losses – New York Times
Former back office worker brings on $7.1 billion in trading losses.
“Massive fraudently directional positions” taken by trader responsible for hedging European index futures. France’s second largest bank says fraud was isolated incident.
View Portfolios of Prominent Investors
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TradingMarkets Playbook |
The futures are pointing to a strong open this morning. This increases the chances that the market will be able to make the vital follow-through that will be required before we can say with any certainty that the correction has ended. Insofar as the markets remain vulnerable, traders should continue to be wary of the stocks they trade, buying weakness above the 200-day moving average and selling strength below it.
Traders should not expect the sellers to go away too easily, though. So the reaction to any effort to drive the market lower should be key. Patience, rather than panic, continues to be the smart approach to these volatile markets.
David Penn is Senior Editor at TradingMarkets.com.
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