Jim Cramer Blog

Stocks traded off across the board as Wall Street looked to digest service reports and private employment numbers and determine what effect they may have on the Fed's decision whether to cut rates at its next meeting. On the day, gold prices fell, while oil was relatively flat on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The dollar was mixed against other major currencies.
On the economic front, a report delivered by the Institute for Supply Management showed that the service sector expanded at a slower pace in September than in August. The trade group's non-manufacturing index fell in August from 55.8 to 54.8, as expected. A report reading above 50 indicates economic growth, while a figure below 50 signals contraction. The index is now at its lowest levels since March of this year.
In earnings news, sandwich and bakery chain Panera Bread (Nasdaq: PNRA - News) preannounced sales for the third quarter, saying it sees a 35% increase in revenue to $276 million from $205 million the prior year. Same-store sales grew 1.5% for company-owned stores and 0.3% at franchises. The company anticipates EPS to fall within a range of 35-37 cents. Analysts were projecting a third-quarter profit of 34 cents per share. Panera closed up 8% for the day. P.F. Chang's China Bistro (Nasdaq: PFCB - News), meanwhile, warned that it would miss its third-quarter earnings and sales forecasts due to wage pressures, higher capital costs and a fire at a facility. Shares dropped -2.8%.
The third-largest U.S. oil company, ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP - News), announced that profit from its global refining operations would likely be down significantly from the previous quarter, and added that oil and gas production numbers would be off, as well. The company attributed the decline in output to the seizure of its Venezuelan assets, pipeline damage in the United Kingdom, and planned downtime in other areas. ConocoPhillips is scheduled to report its recently completed third-quarter results on October 24th. Shares of the oil company were off -1.7% at the bell.
Shares of Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB - News) closed up 1.3% after the company announced that it expects net profit to rise in the third quarter to more than $2 billion, despite sizeable write-downs stemming from the global credit market issues. The company said robust earnings growth in other sectors should help offset the credit-related hits. Germany's biggest bank also reiterated its targets for 2008.
M&A speculation has Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS - News) looking to take over Credit-Based Asset Servicing & Securitization LLC, a struggling subprime mortgage firm, in the coming weeks for approximately $500 million, according to a person familiar with the matter. Goldman, renown for its opportunistic investing abilities, has recently indicated that the end of the subprime lending fiasco may be close at hand and has expressed an interest in the depressed sector.

Labels: COP, DB, GS, PFCB, PNRA

Volatility has been the name of the game the past two weeks, and today, the final trading day of the week, was no different. Global stock markets fell hard overnight on still more credit market fears. At the onset of trading, all three major market averages here in the states fell significantly. However, bulls fought back in late trading to end the session slightly to the downside. The S&P managed to eek out a gain of half a point.
Continuing on the credit market fallout, central banks around the globe moved in unison to pump in liquidity to their respective banking systems. In total, over $135.7 billion was infused into systems in the past 24 hours from central banks in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Australia. On the domestic front, the Federal Reserve orchestrated three separate infusions in the system, which by the end of the day stood at $38 billion.
Overnight, Germany's largest bank Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB - News) said an investment fund that has exposure to the subprime credit area has lost -30% of its value since July. The DWS fund said assets fell from 3 billion euros to 2.3 billion euros. Elsewhere, Renaissance Institutional Equities Fund, a $29 billion quantitative hedge fund run by James Simmons, told investors that its fund has fallen -8.7% so far this month.
The nation's largest mortgage lender, Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC - News), said last night in a regulatory filing that "unprecedented disruptions in debt markets could continue to worsen" and that it could potentially make it harder for the company to sell loans and obtain credit. Management said in a statement that "Since the company is highly dependent on the availability of credit to finance its operations, disruptions in the debt markets or a reduction in [its] credit ratings could have an adverse impact on [its] earnings and financial condition, particularly in the short term." Shares plunged in early-morning trading, but recouped the majority of its losses. The stock finished lower by -2.8%.
On the economic data front, the Labor Department said import prices came in hotter than expected in July. Prices of goods imported to the U.S. climbed 1.5% in the prior month, led by petroleum.
On the earnings side of the market, EchoStar Communications (Nasdaq: DISH - News) said second-quarter earnings rose 33% to $224.2 million, or 50 cents per share, up from $168.8 million, or 38 cents per share, last year. Revenues rose 12% to $2.76 billion. During the quarter, the satellite operator added 170,000 net new subscribers, down from 195,000 in the second quarter last year. The company did say that the SEC invalidated all hardware claims made by Tivo (Nasdaq: TIVO - News). Its shares rose 1.2% on the session. Elsewhere, Wyeth (NYSE: WYE - News) shares fell the most in a year after the drug company said U.S. regulators rejected its new schizophrenia drug because it wasn't shown to be effective. The FDA is now requesting more information.
By the BullMarket.com Staff

Labels: CFC, DB, DISH, Tivo, WYE

Here are 7 options to watch for today. This list comes directly from the TradingMarkets Options Indicators page. The list is created using OptionVue options analysis software.
Most Underpriced Calls: These are the most under priced calls of all stocks in our database. While the Equities Explosion List finds groups of calls for individual equities that are under priced, this list finds the most under priced individual calls. Thus, the options listed here will tend to be more severely under priced.
Deutsche Bank July 155 Calls (NYSE:DB). DB's PowerRating is 6.
Most Underpriced Puts: These are the most under priced puts of all stocks in our database. While the Equities Explosion List finds groups of puts for individual equities that are under priced, this list finds the most under priced individual puts. Thus, the options listed here will tend to be more severely under priced.
Medtronic July 50 Puts (NYSE:MDT). MDT's PowerRating is 5.
Most Overpriced Calls: These are the most overpriced calls of all stocks in our database. While the Equities Implosion List finds groups of calls for individual equities that are overpriced, this list finds the most overpriced individual calls. Thus, the options listed here will tend to be more severely overpriced.
Research in Motion July 185 Calls (NasdaqGS:RIMM). RIMM's PowerRating is 3.
Most Overpriced Puts: These are the most overpriced puts of all stocks in our database. While the Equities Implosion List finds groups of puts for individual equities that are overpriced, this list finds the most overpriced individual puts. Thus, the options listed here will tend to be more severely overpriced.
Google Inc. July 430 Puts (NasdaqGS:GOOG)GOOG's PowerRating is 5.
Stocks with Abnormal Call Volume: These are stocks which showed unusual call option volume not easily explained by arbitrage operations. The appearance of a stock on the Call Volume Alerts list suggests a possible takeover, extraordinarily good earnings report, or other news which may favorably affect the stock.
Palm Inc. (NasdaqGS:PALM). PALM's PowerRating is 5.
Stocks with Abnormal Put Volume: These are stocks which showed unusual put option volume not easily explained by arbitrage operations. The appearance of a stock on the Put Volume Alerts list suggests an extraordinarily negative earnings report, or other news which may negatively affect the stock.
None today
Abnormal Put/Call $ Volume: These stocks have the highest dollar put volume in relation to their call volume. These high ratios are indicative of extreme bearish sentiment in the underlying stock.
SiRF Technology Holdings (NasdaqGS:SIRF). SIRF's PowerRating is 5.
International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM). IBM's PowerRating is 5.
PowerRatings are courtesy of TradingMarkets.com

Labels: DB, GOOG, IBM, MDT, PALM, RIMM, SIRF, stock options

The trading week started with the major indexes rising, but the news wasn't positive for Nuvelo Inc.
Shares of the San Carlos, Calif., biotech drug maker plunged Monday after two trials of a blood thinner drug it was developing with Bayer HealthCare failed, and the companies suspended a second study.
Nuvelo shares plummeted as much as 82 percent after the news broke, bottoming out at a 52-week low of $3.35, after closing on the Nasdaq the previous Friday at $19.55. Shares recovered a bit, to close the session at $4.05, still down more than 79 percent on the session. Volume of more than 90 million shares was more than 176 times normal daily trading in the shares.
Shares continued to trade heavily through the rest of the week, with more than 33 million shares changing hands Tuesday and about half that Wednesday. The stock did not recover from Monday's blow, however, edging up just slightly to close the week at $4.16.
Tuesday, microcap Internet search engine Mamma.com caught investors' eyes, when it introduced a new video search function that offers features not found even on Google.com.
Shares of the Montreal-based company soared 80.6 percent to close at $4.28 on the Nasdaq, while volume surged to nearly 30 million shares, about 25 times normal trading. Shares closed Monday at $2.37.
The rally continued Wednesday as share gained as much as 10 percent before settling back down, as volume remained extraordinary. After edging back Thursday, the exuberance for Mamma.com shares returned to end the week with shares hitting a new 52-week high of $5.28, a 30 percent gain, before giving up some of the surge to end up 9.6 percent at $4.44. Volume again topped 26 million.
For the week, Mamma.com shares gained 87 percent.
Wednesday, news and rumors of industry consolidation sent airline shares flying high, with Midwest Air Group Inc. getting the biggest lift, after the Oak Creek, Wis. regional carrier received a hostile takeover bid from AirTran Holdings Inc.
Midwest rejected the $290 buyout offer, but AirTran said it won't give up its quest.
That was enough for investors to keep the shares aloft. After spiking up almost 28 percent, shares edged backed a bit to close Wednesday up $1.30, or 22.2 percent, at $11.10, from their prior day close at 9.08. Trading topped 2 million shares, more than 7 times normal daily volume.
Shares continued to trade heavily and gained 8.6 percent Thursday, but gave up some of the gain even as trading volume ebbed in Friday's session. Nevertheless, shares were up 29 percent since AirTran made its bid, closing the week at $11.72.
Thursday it was more takeover talk, as shares of Worthington Industries Inc. shot up on speculation the metal processing company may be a buyout target. There was no bid for the Columbus, Ohio, company, but at least one analyst said it would be an attractive buy in a consolidating industry.
The stock leaped as high as $21.36 before retreating a bit, to end the session up $2.02, or 11 percent, at $20.32 from their close Wednesday at $18.30. Volume was nearly seven times normal daily trading.
Trading remained about twice as heavy as normal Friday, a share gained 10 cents more to close the week at $20.42.
And Friday, Weyerhaeuser Co., gained nearly 4 percent from their prior day close of $69.49, in trading more than nine times normal, after the lumber and paper producer was upgraded to "Buy," by Deutsche Bank following an announcement it would close one sawmill in Washington and build a newer, more efficient plant.
The move was seen as part of a needed effort to revamp the Federal Way, Wash., company's operations.
Shares gained $2.44, or 3.5 percent, to close at $71.93 on the New York Stock Exchange, after matching their 52-week high of $75.50 earlier in the session, on volume of 14.5 million shares.

Labels: AAI, DB, MAMA, MEH, NUVO, WOR, WY