Stock Market Wrapup Dec. 12th
All three major indices posted modest gains after a volatile session, as investors absorbed news of more mortgage-related losses and a Fed liquidity plan. The Dow added 41 points to end the day at 13,479. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq and S&P each closed up for the session to finish at 2,671 and 1,487, respectfully. Light, sweet crude prices surged higher to settle at $94.39 a barrel. Treasury prices tumbled, while gold prices gained to end at $818.80 an ounce. The dollar fell against the euro, but gained against the yen.
The Federal Reserve announced today that it will mount a joint effort with other central banks to inject billions of dollars of liquidity into the financial system in order to combat the credit crunch. The plan calls for the central bank to conduct four special auctions that will allow banks to bid for the opportunity to borrow directly from the Fed. The first two auctions will take place next week and will be for up to $20 billion each. The amounts of the remaining two auctions will be decided in January 2008.
In other economic news, a report from the Commerce Department showed that the U.S trade deficit widened in October. A reading of the report showed that imports exceeded exports by $57.8 billion, up from a gap of $57.2 billion September. Economists had predicted the gap would be $57 billion.
In corporate news, shares of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC - News) fell -2.7% on the day after the company disclosed in a regulatory filing that it expects fourth-quarter write-downs to exceed the -$3 billion it had predicted last month but was uncertain how big the write-down would be. The bank also said it expects to set aside $3.3 billion in loan-loss provisions in the fourth quarter, which is approximately $1.3 billion more than the previous period. The company expects to remain profitable in the fourth quarter.
Elsewhere, 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM - News), the maker of Scotch tape and Post-it notes, said it expects earnings growth of at least 10% for the full year 2008 fueled by overseas sales and exchange rates. The company said it expects 2008 earnings per share to be between $5.44-$5.47 per share. Analysts, on average, were looking for earnings growth of 9%, or EPS of $5.43 per share. 3M's stock was up 2.4% for the day.
Also today, shares of Sallie Mae (NYSE: SLM - News) tumbled -10.8% after the company slashed its earnings guidance for the fourth quarter and full-year 2008. The student lender also disclosed that it has failed to renegotiate a buyout offer from an investor group that balked at its original offer of $25 billion several months ago. For the quarter, Sallie expects to earn between 52-57 cents per share. On average, analysts were looking for fourth-quarter earnings of 71 cents per share, which is down from previous estimates of 74 cents last month. The company lowered its earnings guidance for 2008 to be between $2.60-$2.80 per share, down from $3.25 per share.
In M&A activity, software giant Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT - News) announced today that it had acquired U.K.-based Multimap, a provider of location and mapping technology. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Microsoft said the mapping technology could be used to complement several of its current offerings and may be integrated with future products. Shares of Microsoft were up 1.1% on the day.
By the BullMarket.com Staff
The Federal Reserve announced today that it will mount a joint effort with other central banks to inject billions of dollars of liquidity into the financial system in order to combat the credit crunch. The plan calls for the central bank to conduct four special auctions that will allow banks to bid for the opportunity to borrow directly from the Fed. The first two auctions will take place next week and will be for up to $20 billion each. The amounts of the remaining two auctions will be decided in January 2008.
In other economic news, a report from the Commerce Department showed that the U.S trade deficit widened in October. A reading of the report showed that imports exceeded exports by $57.8 billion, up from a gap of $57.2 billion September. Economists had predicted the gap would be $57 billion.
In corporate news, shares of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC - News) fell -2.7% on the day after the company disclosed in a regulatory filing that it expects fourth-quarter write-downs to exceed the -$3 billion it had predicted last month but was uncertain how big the write-down would be. The bank also said it expects to set aside $3.3 billion in loan-loss provisions in the fourth quarter, which is approximately $1.3 billion more than the previous period. The company expects to remain profitable in the fourth quarter.
Elsewhere, 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM - News), the maker of Scotch tape and Post-it notes, said it expects earnings growth of at least 10% for the full year 2008 fueled by overseas sales and exchange rates. The company said it expects 2008 earnings per share to be between $5.44-$5.47 per share. Analysts, on average, were looking for earnings growth of 9%, or EPS of $5.43 per share. 3M's stock was up 2.4% for the day.
Also today, shares of Sallie Mae (NYSE: SLM - News) tumbled -10.8% after the company slashed its earnings guidance for the fourth quarter and full-year 2008. The student lender also disclosed that it has failed to renegotiate a buyout offer from an investor group that balked at its original offer of $25 billion several months ago. For the quarter, Sallie expects to earn between 52-57 cents per share. On average, analysts were looking for fourth-quarter earnings of 71 cents per share, which is down from previous estimates of 74 cents last month. The company lowered its earnings guidance for 2008 to be between $2.60-$2.80 per share, down from $3.25 per share.
In M&A activity, software giant Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT - News) announced today that it had acquired U.K.-based Multimap, a provider of location and mapping technology. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Microsoft said the mapping technology could be used to complement several of its current offerings and may be integrated with future products. Shares of Microsoft were up 1.1% on the day.
By the BullMarket.com Staff
posted by Stock Administrator @ 10:49 PM
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