RSS Updates
Email UpdatesBy Douglas A. McIntyre of 24/7 Wall St. for DailyFinance.com
Microsoft (MSFT) will begin to kick the tires on its new search engine. According to The Wall Street Journal, “Microsoft Corp. has begun testing a revamped version of its internet search service, dubbed Kumo.com, as the software giant tries to improve its third-place position in the online search market.” Of course, Redmond says that it has built a better mouse trap and that results will be more relevant to users than those of other search products.
Microsoft’s success with the product may be largely out of its hands. It has 10 percent of the U.S. search market, by most estimates. Google (GOOG) has close to 60 percent. Microsoft’s best chance of picking up ground may not be better technology. It may be based on whether people are tiring of using Google.
Many analysts, economists, traders, and the like have blamed some of President Obama’s new plans and some of the proposed actions out of Congress as contributing to the recent sell-off. But President Obama said today he has noticed the market, even if he also said that he would not look at the short term swings. But Obama made statements today that might at least lead some to look at the current value in stocks for the long haul.
GE (GE) Growing concern that financial division will have heavy write-offs. Drops to $6.85 from a 52-week high of $38.52.
It seems that bond ratings agencies still have some merit, or at least investors still read what they write. Standard & Poor’s has lowered and reaffirmed some ratings for Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC).
Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) reported a dismal sales for February. But the beloved Toyota Prius hybrid that has captured the hearts and minds of the green class posted dismal sales numbers as well. The economy and cheap gas prices are at least making the Prius a major disappointment. Toyota might even be hiding just how low the demand for hybrids is because it did not break out hybrid unit sales for its Highlander and Camry hybrids like it did in 2008.
There is a rather large retirement in the world of technology today. It may be more of a formality than anything, but Paul Jacobs now chairman of Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM). He is replacing his father, Dr. Irwin Jacobs, co-founder and CEO from the founding of Qualcomm in 1985.
The stock market may be hitting lows not seen in more than a decade. What is amazing is that there are actually several companies hitting 52-week highs today. Companies featured are Applied Signal Tech (NASDAQ: APSG), AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO), Enterprise Acquisition Corp. (EST), O’Reilly Automotive (NASDAQ: ORLY), Scopus Video Networks Ltd. (NASDAQ: SCOP), and Trans-India Acquisition Corp. (TIL).
It should be impossible for housing to get worse, but then it does.
Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) is a stock where we just saw a major price alert this morning, although not from our normal US channels. The company’s shares in Europe are now under the 1.oo euro mark. That price of EUR 0.96 does not constitute a sub-$1.00 stock here as the ADR’s trade at $1.19. This looks like the first time that these shares have been this low in Europe. The US trading range is (was, actually) $1.23 to $7.67, and it was between $10 and $15 in the just eighteen months ago and most of the 3-year period before that. The reason that the “sub-1.00″ level is important in euros is because the stock trades more than 21 million shares overseas, which is almost three-times the volume we now see in the U.S. This one has now been cut in more than half in three months.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is speaking to the Senate Budget Committee this morning. Bernanke appears support the White House plan to stimulate the economy. He argued that aggressive actions are needed to avoid economic calamity. Interestingly enough, he didn’t talk the budget or tax hikes in detail.
Chinese PV solar maker Trina Solar Limited (NYSE: TSL) reported a net EPS loss this morning of -$0.03, compared with estimates of a loss of -$0.04. Revenue of $216.3 million beat estimates of $201.31 million, but were off 25.6% sequentially and up 113.4% year-over-year.
ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) just popped up after the Chinese solar player reiterated earnings guidance. But it is not immune to the ways of the world, and the 2009 guidance looks lite.
Fotowatio, a Spanish firm owned by a consortium including General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), has purchased several solar farms from US firm MMA Renewable Ventures, a unit of Municipal Mortgage & Equity LLC, aka MuniMae. MuniMae missed an SEC-imposed deadline for filing its 2006 10-K, and was delisted from the NYSE. It was required to restate its financial statements for 2004, 2005, and 2006. MuniMae shares now trade over-the-counter, and the company has been shedding assets to raise cash.
Anadarko Petroluem Corporation (NYSE:APC) has priced two tranches of senior notes, one of $500 million due 2014 at a coupon of 7.625% and the other of $600 million due 2019 at a coupon of 8.7%. Joint book-runners for the notes were JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM), UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) and Credit Suisse Group (NYSE:CS).
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is introducing new Mac Pro models t oday including a 24-inch Mac Pro that is priced “more affordable than ever” and a Mac with powerful new integrated graphic processing and memory. The pricing is lower, but definitely flies in the face against the notion that spending is dead because of the recession.
We are seeing unusual trading activity so far this morning in shares of Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN), Genentech, Inc. (NYSE: DNA), Genzyme Corp. (NASDAQ: GENZ), and PDL BioPharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: PDLI).
These are some of the top analyst downgrades or cautious analyst calls we have seen from Wall Street this Tuesday morning:
These are some of the few analyst upgrades and positive calls we have seen from Wall Street this Tuesday morning with over two hours to the open:
