Daily Archives: January 5, 2007

Cramer’s #1 Top Speculative Stock for 2007

Cramer’s TOP SPECULATIVE STOCK FOR 2007 tonight is Level 3 Communications (LVLT). 

If you will review my US Stock Market Closing Wrap from the today’s close, I actually noted that Level 3 closed up huge today in hopes that this Level 3 would be one of Cramer’s top speculative stocks tonight since he has been so positive on it.  Cramer said the Broadwing deal closed yesterday and it was up from the arbitrage, but I think it was up because he’s already been so positive on this one as a speculative stock for some time.  Cramer thinks they have a huge broadband pipe in a universe that is essentially facing a potential bandwidth shortage.  Even though the shares closed up more than 6% to $5.93 today, the stock ran almost 5% more to $6.20 after hours.  He thinks that the high debt level is ok because there is high-demand from the junk bond buyers for their debt and they are smarter than stock traders.  The rest you have heard most of before.

His second pick for Speculation was Rite Aid (RAD).

His third pick for Speculation was Savient Pharma (SVNT).

Have a great weekend.

Jon C. Ogg
January 5, 2006

Posted on: January 5, 2007 – 6:51 pm in Cramer

Cramer’s #2 Speculative Stock for 2007

Tonight Cramer continued his quest of delivering his favorite TOP 3 SPECULATIVE STOCKS FOR 2007.  Cramer’s #2 Speulative stock for 2007 is Rite Aid (RAD). 

Cramer has been a RAD fan for about 30% now as it has been rising and he’s been positive on this name for weeks now.  He said you definitelt can’t play this now after hours and he reminded about diversifying in speculative names.  Cramer thought about Blockbuster (BBI) and Six Flags (SIX), but both had run up too much.  Cramer said the 10 analysts have 3 buys, 3 holds and 4 sells; so it is unloved and should be valued higher according to him.  He says do not buy it until Monday afternoon so you don’t get your head handed to you.  He likes the 110 store openings or relocations planned for 2007.  He thinks they are immune to Wal-Mart’s (WMT) drug plan, unlike CVS (CVS).  He likes the inner city theme for Rite Aid and he interviewed the CEO briefly.  Mary Sammons, CEO, said the company will reach 12.5% and more next year in private branding of OTC drugs to expand margins.  The relocation stores will post strong double digit gains for a few years according to her.  Cramer said he is perplexed as to why no one hears about her as a great CEO.

Cramer’s #3 SPECULATIVE STOCK FOR 200 was Savient Pharma (SVNT) for its gout drug in Phase III trials.

Below are his picks from Wednesday and Thursday for Growth Picks for 2007:

1)  New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
2)  Apple (AAPL).
3)  Cisco Systems (CSCO).

If you want to read through to the top VALUE PICKS for 2007 that Cramer gave on Wednesday night, here is the list:

1) Altria (MO)
2) Goldman Sachs (GS)
3) Halliburton (HAL)

by Jon C. Ogg

Posted on: January 5, 2007 – 6:26 pm in Cramer, Retail

Cramer’s #3 Speculative Stock for 2007

Tonight Cramer continued his quest of delivering his favorite TOP 3 SPECULATIVE STOCKS FOR 2007.  Cramer started off with his #3 pick, or the second runner up for the speculative stocks.

Savient Pharma (SVNT) is his #1 pick.  He said it is up $4.00 and has been on a tear.  It is up against competition, and you can’t put more than 20% of your mad Money in any speculative stock and he thinks you need a basket of speculative stocks.  With 20% geared toward speculative stocks, you should still have 4 others.  Out of these you can expect one to scream and one to go bust.  Cramer says management is good because they sold off a drug for more than it was worth then cut the number of shares with a Dutch tender.  Their phase III gout drug looks promising and Cramer said there hasn’t been a gout treatment in about 40 years and there are 3 to 5 million Americans with gout.  Phase II results were amazing, and if they have 35% market penetration he thinks it will be $200 million to $400 million and the stock could double.

Below are his picks from Wednesday and Thursday for Growth and Value Picks for 2007:
#1 growth pick is the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
#2 is Apple (AAPL).
#3  is Cisco Systems (CSCO).

If you want to read through to the top VALUE PICKS for 2007 that Cramer gave on Wednesday night, here is the list:

1) Altria (MO)
2) Goldman Sachs (GS)
3) Halliburton (HAL)

Jon C. Ogg
January  5, 2007

Posted on: January 5, 2007 – 6:12 pm in Biotech, Cramer, Pharmaceuticals

US Stock Market Close (JAN 5, 2007)

DJIA    12,398.01; Down 82.68 (0.66%)
Nasdaq    2,434.25; Down 19.18 (0.78%)
S&P 500    1,409.71; Down 8.63 (0.61%)
10YR-Bond   4.646%; Up 0.028
NYSE Volume    2,912,830,000
NASD Volume    2,028,547,000

Jobs numbers were strong with 167,000 new jobs and a 4.5% unemployment and wages were up 0.5%, so the Dollar rebounded as the chances of a rate cut by march all but disappeared.  Commodity prices also continied to slide.  Wasn’t everyone compalining about a low Dollar last month and complaining about high commodity prices?

Oil closed up $0.72 per barrel at NYMEX to $54.90, but that is afterthe price was down as low as $54.90.  Exxon (XOM) rose 0.7% to $73.22 and Oil Service HOLDRs (OIH) rose 0.5% to $130.75.

Best Buy (BBY) rose 0.3% to $50.00 after giving guidance that wasn’t as bad as last month.

Motorola (MOT) was the bomb of the day falling almost 8% to $18.94 after a revenue cut that will know out 1/3 of its earnings.

Nokia (NOK) saw its ADR’s fall 5% to $19.84 and Ericsson (ERIC) saw its ADR’s fall 1.5% to $40.93.

Yahoo! (YHOO) rose over 3% to $27.74 on hopes that it would sign a major content deal in india.

Level3 (LVLT) rose 6% in hopes that it would be Cramer’s Speculative Stock pick tonight, so we’ll have to see.

Dell (DELL) closed down 0.3% to $26.16 after JPMorgan downgraded that Neutral call to Underweight, although there wasn’t much new in the call.  Click here to see what we said about the call being old and the initial 2%drop being an overreaction.

Openwave (OPWV) fell another 5.7% to $8.93 as the company issued an earnings warning.

Flextronics (FLEX) rose 0.5%to $11.59 after the company was started as Buy at UBS.

XM Satellite (XMSR) rose 2% to $15.32 after reporting more than a total of 7 million subscribers by the end of 2006.

NYSE (NYX) saw its shares rise over 7% to $102.39 after Cramer noted it was his #1 Growth Pick for 2007.

Stay tuned for Cramer’s Top 3 speculative stock plays tonight.  Below are his picks from Wednesday and Thursday for Growth and Value Picks for 2007:
#1 growth pick is the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
#2 is Apple (AAPL).
#3  is Cisco Systems (CSCO).

If you want to read through to the top VALUE PICKS for 2007 that Cramer gave on Wednesday night, here is the list:

1) Altria (MO)
2) Goldman Sachs (GS)
3) Halliburton (HAL)

Jon C. Ogg
January 5, 2007

Posted on: January 5, 2007 – 4:19 pm in Market Close

Cramer Shuns Motorola & Defends Exxon

On today’s STOP TRADING segment on CNBC, Cramer said the Bulls should try to come into the market at the end of the day.  Cramer said we wanted commodities down and dollar up, and they sold the market on it.  Cramer said that Motorola (MOT) would actually jump now if Ed Zander left the company, I disagree but it’s his show.  he admitted he’s cranky today, so maybe he’s jumping the gun.

Cramer said ETF’s are actually a great way to short the market and knock down indexes, so they are a bear’s dream come true.  Cramer said he’s worried about China a bit.  Banc of America said Buy Exxon (XOM) on weakness after the downgrade today, and Cramer said he doesn’t want to sell it.

Earlier today he said you gotta be buying Tech that was overly weak from Motorola (MOT) because it wasn’t the end of tech and proceeds raised from stock selling in energy stocks has to go into tech.

Jon C. Ogg
January 5, 2007

Posted on: January 5, 2007 – 2:49 pm in Cramer

On the Weak Day, Cramer Maintains Buying Tech

Cramer says you have to be buying tech.

The puts have already been put on and trying to extrapoloate Motorola (MOT) is wrong. Cisco (CSCO) is a buy on Motorola (MOT) weakness and he noted that this was unable to hit H-P (HPQ).  Cramer thinks CSCO is crushing MOT in 2007, sell them after they report the quarter if you want to sell them but not today because they are oversold.  Cramer thinks that deciding to get bearish today is wrong and all the money that is still leaving energy and has to go somewhere.

As a reminder Cisco (CSCO) was one of his runner ups for his top growth stock picks in 2007 last night.  If you take his a step further, you can see where our noting that the Dell (DELL) downgrade today was illogical and late even if the JPMorgan analyst that cut the stock is correct.

Jon C. Ogg
January 5, 2007

Posted on: January 5, 2007 – 12:13 pm in Cramer, Technology Companies

Sirius And XM: When Nothing Means Something (SIRI)(XMSR)

The last couple of days have seen Sirius come out with encouraging numbers for year-end subscribers and cash flow and XM reporting figures that appear to be a slight disappointment.

Oddly enough, the stocks have not moved much. Sirius hit $3.64 four trading days ago and was as low as $3.70 this AM. It had run up to $3.84 on its announcement. The stock is still trading just off its 52-week low of $3.50. And, volume is low. That is never a good sign of interest.

Ditto XM. It announced subscriber figures of 7.625 million for year-end. It’s stock hit an intraday high of $14.75 four days ago. It opened at $14.70 today after running up to $15.75 two days ago on the SIRI news. Again, volume is light.

Satellite radio was the "next big thing", but that was three or four years ago. Now, it would appear that if both companies are cash flow positive in Q4, Wall St. does not believe that it will continue into next year. The rate of new subscription adds for XM has already slowed. And, with the impact of Howard Stern behind Sirius, it may follow in XM’s slow steps.

Of course, with iPods, music to cell phones, and the new Samsung hardware that lets handsets get local TV stations, satellite radio is being pushed into a smaller and smaller corner.

If stock prices stay low, investors will despair. If investors despair, volume and interest go away.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.

Posted on: January 5, 2007 – 10:16 am in Satellite

XM Satellite Down Slightly on Subscribers

XM Satellite Radio (XMSR) is trading down almost 2% pre-market.  The company said it added more than 442,000 new net subscribers during the fourth quarter of 2006 and more than 1.695 million new subscribers in all of 2006 to end with more than 7.625 million subscribers. XM also announced the same as Sirius in that it achieved operation positive cash flows in the fourth quarter of 2006. 

This doesn’t appear to be any big disappointment, but the stock did trade higher earlier this week when Sirius announced its preliminary results.  It looks like traders are just selling the news.

Wall Street has told the companies they need to merge and we outlined what the combined company could save.  The rumors and news reports have been hinting and hoping for a deal almost every week, and if the companies are going to merge they should do it before their forward growth numbers start to look lower than prior years on average.

Jon C. Ogg
January 5, 2007

Posted on: January 5, 2007 – 9:20 am in Satellite

Dell Down 2% on Downgrade; But the Reasoning Seems Two Months Old

Dell (DELL) is now trading down about 2% pre-market after the PC maker was cut to ‘Underweight’ from a Neutral at JPMorgan.  The shares were down only about 1% earlier.  What is odd here is that there is essentially no new data, and the call of a Neutral was already deemed a poor opinion and the new Underweight is just a poorer rating.  This call may have had merit a couple months ago, but this doesn’t seem worth much today.

The note from J.P.Morgan’s Bill Shope said investors will switch their attention to what may be a difficult 2007 and the company may have margin pressures after loss in market share.  It notes that AMD price concessions may be short-lived and that enterprise operations could be under pressure.  What is really odd is that J.P.Morgan feels Dell will see little benefit from the Vista launch this year and may not see a corporate Vista cycle until 2008 at best.

I believe that Vista is going to matter, and just recently Cramer said he’d even buy Dell for Vista.  This morning’s research call that is adding weakness to the stock seems late and there really seems like nothing new is in the note.  The company didn’t blow earnings like the street was braced for and it feels like the worst is either over or perhaps close to over.  Rollins was one of our 10 CEO’s noted whose stocks would likely rise if they left, but if the stock shows that anything close to the old sub-$20 share prices were truly oversold then he may survive.  Wall Street is ruthless when it comes to management over stock prices, but this call today doesn’t make much sense.  If you wanted to tie it into a weak chip call from Credit Suisse after Motorola’s warning being very loosely related as a culprit that could be passed off.

Mr. Shope may have extra insight that wasn’t available to us in the last day ahead of Dell’s keynote address at CES and maybe he’ll be right and prove me wrong, but all of this data seemed like it should have already been factored in earlier last quarter.  Perhaps Shope’s research note was meant to be dated November 5, 2006 instead of January 5, 2007.

Jon C. Ogg
January 5, 2006

Posted on: January 5, 2007 – 8:56 am in Analyst Calls, Earnings, Management Change, PC Companies, Pre-Market Activity

Goldman Sachs Research Summary (JAN 5, 2007)

Goldman Sachs full research note summary:
Pfizer (PFE) reinstated as Buy with $30 target.
WellPoint (WLP) raised to Buy from Neutral, but Aetna (AET) cut to Neutral from Buy.
Current fiscal estimates hiked on ACE, AHL, HCC, CB, PTP, RNR, XL by 1% to 2%.  Current fiscal estimates trimmed slightly on Chicos FAS (CHS) and Dow Chemical (DOW).
Atmos Energy (ATO) started as Neutral.

Posted on: January 5, 2007 – 8:09 am in Analyst Calls

Pre-Market Stock News (JAN 5, 2007)

by Jon C. Ogg

(AAPL) Apple noted as Cramer’s #2 Growth Stock for 2007.
(AINV) Apollo Investment fell 1.5% after filing to sell 16 million shares.
(ANGO) AngioDynamics positive in Business Week.
(BAMM) Books-a-Million fell another 1.5% after falling 3% Thursday after beating revenues but posting lower s-s-s for December.
(BBY) Best Buy trading up 4% pre-market on 15% revenue rise and domestic s-s-s up 6.1% for the quarter.
(BJRI) BJ’s Restaurants rose 1% after beating revenue expectations for the quarter.
(BMRN) BioMarin starts Phase II studies in peripheral artery disease.
(CPST) Capstone Turbine received $1.6 million in a follow-on order out of Russia.
(CSCO) Cisco Systems noted as Cramer’s #3 Growth Stock for 2007.
(DLTR) Dollar Tree traded up marginally after essentially reaffirming sales targets.
(DNA) Genentech reported Positive Phase II Pertusumab results after the close.
(GM) GM said it won’t lose #1 title to Toyota without a fight.
(HWAY) Healthways traded down 5% after reporting mixed earnings and revenue slightly under plan.
(INWK) InnerWorkings filed to sell 8 million shares, 5 million are from holders.
(MCRL) Micrel lowered guidance.
(MEDI) Medimmune noted as being worth $45 in takeover potentially according to Business Week article.
(MOT) Motorola trading down 5% after warning.
(MRVL) Marvell Tech said it is raising some executive stock option exercise prices after option reviews.
(NYT) New York Times is selling its broadcasting division for $575 Million to focus on papers.
(NYX) NYSE noted as Cramer’s #1 Growth Stock for 2007.
(OPWV) Openwave traded down 5% after issuing anotherearnings warning for this quarter and next; company also announced it plans to waste up to $100M of shareholder money in share repurchases.
(RBAK) Redback lowered guidance, but this is under tender by Ericsson since December.
(RMBS) Rambus terminated former CEO’s outstanding stock options.
(RNOW) Rightnow Tech fell 12% after signalling a loss instead of break-even results.
(SABA) Saba Software traded up almost 5% after exceeding earnings estimates.
(SYNP) Synplicity shares traded down 27% after lowering guidance.
(TASR) Taser is launching new personal protection product at CES next week.
(TWTR) Tweeter fell more than 2% after announcing it missed sales expectations.
(XRTX) Xyratex fell about 3% after beating lowered guidance, fell because warned for next quarter.

Posted on: January 5, 2007 – 7:47 am in Pre-Market Activity

Analyst & Research Notes (JAN 5, 2007)

by Jon C. Ogg

AET cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
ANF raised to Buy at Merrill Lynch.
BK cut to Mkt Perform at Piper Jaffray.
BRCM cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
DELL cut to Underweight at JPMorgan (stock -1.5%).
DIVX reitr Outperform at JPMorgan, but added to Focus List.
DRS started as Overweight at Prudential.
DSGX started as Outperform at CIBC.
EOG raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
FLEX started as Buy at UBS.
HORC cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
INTC started as Underperform at Credit Suisse.
JBL started as Neutral at UBS.
MOT cut to Peer Perform at Bear Stearns, cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank, cut to Market Perform at Piper Jaffray, cut to Sector Perform at CIBC.
NOK cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
NSC raised to Buy at Citigroup.
NTRS raised to Buy at Piper Jaffray.
OPTN started as Neutral at JPMorgan.
OPWV cut to Hold at Jefferies.
PCZ raised to Outperform at CIBC.
PFE reinstated as Buy at Goldman Sachs.
PLL cut to Neutral at UBS.
PVH reitr Outperform at JPMorgan.
SANM started as Neutral at UBS.
SIRF started as Buy at UBS.
SLR started as Neutral at UBS.
SMI cut to Reduce at UBS.
VIRL cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
WDC cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
WLP raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
WOOF started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
WYN started as Buy at UBS.
XOM cut to Equal Weightat Lehman.

Posted on: January 5, 2007 – 7:43 am in Analyst Calls

Freeport’s Deal For Phelps Dodge Looks Shaky (PD)(FCX)

The idea behind the Freeport McMoran purchase of cooper company Phelps Dodge is that high cooper prices would cover the premium price of the deal.

Cooper prices have now dropped to $2.59 a pound, down 36% from May.

Freeport’s stock is down 29% since April to $51. But, Phelp’s shares are down only 7% to $116.

The disparity in the stock prices of the two companies is a problem. Freeport now has a market cap of just over $10 billion. Phelps is at almost $24 billion. Freeport’s deal was a 35% premium to the price of Phelps shares at the time of the deal.

No other mining company has made an offer for Phelps, probably a sign that with falling cooper, the price is much too rich.

Either the Freeport deal will die, or the combined company will be a financial mess.

Douglas A. McIntryre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.

Posted on: January 5, 2007 – 7:06 am in Metals

Cell Phone Price Wars, Slowdown Coming?

Stocks:   (MOT)(NOK)(SNE)(ERIC)(QCOM)(TXN)

Bad news for handset makers. Price wars at the holidays appear to have eroded margins at Motorola. It cut its fourth quarter sales forecast by between $300 million to $500 million. It would appear that it cut prices on its popular RAZR model to compete with products from Nokia.

The cold that Motorola caught could be a flu for Nokia. Reuter reports that: "It is clear — the price competition has been brutal. I believe it has certainly impacted also Nokia," said analyst Jari Honko from eQ Bank. Credit Suisse cut its rating on Nokia to "neutral" from "outperform" after Motorola’s news.

Samsung and several industry groups expect 2007 handset sales to rise only about 10% over 2006. That is compared to a 20% plus growth rate in each of the last four years.

That means that the price war come in the teeth of a slowing market. Not good.

The fall-out could go beyond Nokia and Motorola to other handset companies like Sony-Ericsson and Samsung. Qualcomm and Texas Instruments could find chip unit total flattening as handset companies seek bette prices to offset eroding margins.

2007 could be ugly in the mobile industries.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.

Posted on: January 5, 2007 – 6:54 am in Wireless

Google’s China Deals Won’t Get It to No.1

Stocks:  (CHL)(GOOG)(BIDU)

Google announced two deals in China. It will make an investment in Xunlei Network Technology Co. which provides video downloads on the mainland. The Chinese company has 54 million subscribers. Not bad.

Google also entered into a venture to provide search capabilities to customers of China Mobile, the world’s largest wireless company.

Google’s problem is that it is fundamentally an English language company. Consequently, local search company Baidu has 64% of the search market in China.

It is, however, a stretch to believe that a download service will drive much search traffic. It does not appear to be a key component of YouTube, Google’s own video service.

Baidu is in first place, but a wider margin that Google is in the US. That is not likely to change.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.

Posted on: January 5, 2007 – 6:32 am in Internet

GM’s Empty Challenge (GM)(TM)

GM says that the spot as the world’s largest car maker is worth fighting for, just as Toyota is about to snatch the crown. The company said its plants could produce more cars that Toyota said it would sell in 2007, a number that the Japanes company puts at 9.34. million. But, producing what you sell can be tough, as GM as found out as inventories balloned last year.

In a bit of a paradox, GM said it also plans to close more plants and work over the UAW for more concessions. GM said that healthcare costs have put the company as a $5 billion competitive disadvantage. Reuters say that GM’s health-care costs average $1,500 per vehicle, compared with about $200 for Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp. So, will the talks turn acrimonious? If the UAW wants to remain a union with any power, that is a possibility, as is a stike of some magnitude if the union has to dig in.

GM has one chance to keep up with Toyota. In 2006, it sold 55% of its cars overseas. GM is now that largest seller of cars in China based on its joint ventures with local companies. It is also expanding into markets like Russia and India.

What an irony? GM may keep up with Toyota by selling cars overseas.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.

Posted on: January 5, 2007 – 6:24 am in Autos

Ford Gets Some Stones (F)(TM)(HMC)

As The New York Times chronicles the collapse of Ford, the company has decided it is tired of having sand kicked in its face by Honda and Toyota.

The US car company will begin advertising its Fusion model as a direct and better car than its competition, the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. Both Japanese models outsell the Fusion. Car&Driver got 600 of its subscribers to participate in a "taste test" among the three models.

Ford’s vehicle sales fell almost 8% in the US during 2006.

Ford clearly wants to part with its sissy boy image and show that it is not going to be pounded to a pulp by its Japanese competitor. Not, at least, without a fight.

It may even work.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.

Posted on: January 5, 2007 – 6:10 am in Autos

Europe Markets 1/5/2007 British Air, France Telecom Up, DaimlerChrysler Down

Markets in Europe were off modestly at 6 AM New York time.

The FTSE was down .2% to 6,272. BP was down .4% to 560.5. BT was up .8% to 321.75. British Air was up 1.5% to 553. GlaxoSmithKline was down .4% to 1405. Prudential was up .1% to 721. Reuters was down .5% to 442.5. Unilever was down .6% to 1425.

The DAXX was down .5% to 6,643. Daimler was down .8% to 46.75. Deutsche Bnak was down .2% to 103.18. Deutsche Telekom was up .8% to 14.56. Siemens was up .2% to 75.7.

The CAC 40 was down .3% to 5,557. Alcatel-Lucent was down .9% to 11.42. AXA was flat at 31.5. France Telecom was up .9% to 21.87. ST Micro was up .2% to 14.23. Vivendi was down .1% to 30.18.

Data from Reuters.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: January 5, 2007 – 6:02 am in International Markets

Media Digest 1/5/2006 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Barron’s

Stocks: (OPWV)(WB)(F)(GM)(MOT)(NOK)(NYT)(GOOG)(GPS)(LLY)

According to Reuters, GM will try to further cut its workforce and close plants in 2007 in an attempt to drop its cost base further in North America.

Reuters says that a large surge in cell phone sales over the holiday season lead to steep price discounts that will hurt the earnings of Motorola and Nokia.

Reuters writes that Motorola cut expectations for its Q4 based on a shortfall at its mobile device operations.

Reuters writes that The New York Times sold its broadcast group for $575 million.

Reuters also writes that Big Oil is bracing for energy reform from the new Democrat controlled Congress.

The Wall Street Journal writes that retailers reported at 3.1% increase in same-store sales in December, below the figure for 2005.

The WSJ also writes that GM sold more cars overseas than in the US last year.

The WSJ also writes that Seagate is introducing a line of consumer friendly storage devices in a bid to improve its retail sales.

The WSJ also reports that Google will tie-up with Chinese video download firm Xunlei Network Technology Co in a bid to put pressure on China search leader Baidu.

The New York Times writes that Eli Lilly agreed to pay up to $500 million to people who claimed they had developed diabetes or other diseases after taking Zyprexa.

The NYT also reports that Gap directors are participating in a broad review of the company’s strategy as its struggles to gain sales.

The NYT reports that GM management wants to keep its position as the No. 1 car maker in the world, but offers little evidence as to how it will accomplish the goal.

The NYT also reports that sales of aircraft at Boeing set a record in 2006.

The FT reports that LG of Korea is introducing a new device that will play both of the new high definition DVD formats.

The FT also reports that Ford says it may sell its Jaquar unit.

Barron’s writes that Credit Suisse upped its rating on Wachovia due to valuation and dividend improvements.

Barron;s also writes that Bear Stearns upped its rating on Merck due to strenth in the company’s future pipeline for products.

Barron’s also writes that Openwave missed its earnings in the current quarter and offered a downbeat forecast for the next.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: January 5, 2007 – 5:42 am in Press Digest

Asia Markets 1/5/2007 Toyota, Canon Down, Softbank Up

Stocks:  (CAJ)(FUJ)(HIT)(HMC)(NIPNY)(NTT)(SNE)(TM)(CHL)(CHU)(PCW)(HBC)

Markets in Asia were mixed with the Nikkei off sharply.

The Nikkei was down 1.5% to 17,092. Bridgestone was down 2.5% to 2580. Canon was down 2.1% to 6530. Fujit Film was down 1.9% to 4760. Hitachi was up 1% to 795. Honda was down 3% to 4600. Japan Airlines was up 2.4% to 217. NEC was down 2% to 576. NTT was down .3% to 607000. Sharp was down 2.2% to 2020. Softbank was up 2% to 2490. Sony was up .4% to 5210. Toyota was down 2.3% to 7900.

The Hang Seng was up .9% to 20,211. Cathay Pacific was down .2% to 18.78. China Mobile was p 1.8% to 69.4. China Unicom was up 1.6% to 11.78. HSBC was down .3% to 143.4. PCCW was up .8% to 4.84.

The KOSPI was down .8% to 1,386.

The Straits Times was up .2% to 3,029.

The Shanghai Composite was down 2.7% to 2,841.

Data from Reuters

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: January 5, 2007 – 5:19 am in International Markets