Stronger Opening
Stocks appeared set to open higher
Thursday.
Ann Taylor
(
ANN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lowered guidance
for Q3 once again to 40 cents a share vs. prior guidance of between 42 and 46
cents a share.
Merrill Lynch raised its price target
on AutoZone
(
AZO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to $90 a share.
The European Central Bank cuts rates
by 50 basis points, an unexpected move as the markets was eyeing a 25 basis
point cut.
Salomon Smith Barney lowered its
rating on Dow Chemicals
(
DOW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) from Buy to Outperform.
Talbots
(
TLB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported a decline
in October same-store sales. The company however reaffirmed Q3 guidance of at
least 57 cents a share.
Goldman Sachs lowered its rating on
Golden West Financial
(
GDW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) from Market Perform to Market Underperform.
Sunrise Assisted Living
(
SRZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
posted Q3 earnings of 44 cents a share, beating analysts’ estimates by 2 cents.
Shurgard Storage
(
SHU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) has delayed
reporting of its Q3 results after advice from an independent auditor.
The Bank of England lowered its rates
by 50 basis points as it followed the lead of the FOMC.
According to a report in the Wall
Street Journal, Dynegy
(
DYN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) held talks with Enron
(
ENE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to acquire the
battered energy company.
Microsoft
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was chosen by
Charter Communications
(
CHTR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to provide MSFT TV software platform for the
next generation of interactive TV.