Stock Market Wrapup Oct. 2nd
After the Dow hit an all-time high yesterday, stocks were mixed on the session today. Wall Street cooled off some, with only the Nasdaq holding on to a modest gain among the three major indices. The dollar rebounded against the euro and gained versus the yen, which helped send commodity prices lower including a dip in oil and gold prices. Investors moved cautiously as they weighed the latest reading from the housing sector and sales from the nation's automakers.
In economic news, The National Association of Realtors' pending home sales index fell to a record low of 85.5 from an upwardly revised 91.4 reading in July. The drop was worse than expected by economists, who had predicted a -2% dip from the previous reading. The steep decline breaks the previous low of 89.8, which was set in September 2001, following the terrorist attacks that knocked consumer confidence. The trade group started the index in 2001.
Overall U.S. auto sales were soft in September on mixed reports from General Motors (NYSE: GM - News), which saw its overall sales of cars and light trucks edge up 0.3% in September, and Ford (NYSE: F - News), which saw sales plummet more than -20% for the same month.
On the earnings front, investors are growing increasingly impatient with smartphone pioneer Palm (Nasdaq: PALM - News) following the company's lackluster earnings release delivered after the market close yesterday. Palm announced that it had lost -$841,000, or -1 cent per share, in the first quarter on revenue that increased to $360.8 million. Palm's outlook didn't do much to raise investor confidence as the company is expecting a current quarter loss of -1 cent to -3 cents per share on revenue between $370 million and $380 million. On an adjusted basis, it expects a profit of 6-8 cents per share versus analyst estimates of 11 cents per share on sales of $413.5 million. Shares slumped -3.4%.
Shares of Pepsi Bottling Group (NYSE: PBG - News) reached an all-time high today after the largest bottler for PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP - News) reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday. The company said net income for the third quarter, which ended September 8th, rose 26% to $260 million, or $1.12 per share, from $207 million, or 86 cents per share, a year ago. The company also raised its full-year outlook. The stock rose 2.1%.
The M&A world saw Canada's TD Bank Financial Group (NYSE: TD - News) double its U.S. presence today when it acquired Mid-Atlantic regional bank Commerce Bancorp (NYSE: CBH - News) for $8.5 billion in cash and stock. As a result of the takeover, TD Bank will add nearly 460 branches along the East Coast when the deal closes in the spring of 2008, pending regulatory approval. Terms call for a 75% stock and 25% cash transaction that values Commerce at $42 per share, a 6% premium over the stock's closing price of $39.61 on Monday. Details have Commerce shareholders receiving 0.4142 shares of TD Bank common stock and $10.50 in cash for each share of Commerce owned.
Citigroup (NYSE: C - News) continued to reach into the world's second-largest economy by announcing earlier today that it would complete its acquisition of Japanese brokerage firm Nikko by paying $4.6 billion to buy out the remaining minority shareholders.
By the BullMarket.com Staff
In economic news, The National Association of Realtors' pending home sales index fell to a record low of 85.5 from an upwardly revised 91.4 reading in July. The drop was worse than expected by economists, who had predicted a -2% dip from the previous reading. The steep decline breaks the previous low of 89.8, which was set in September 2001, following the terrorist attacks that knocked consumer confidence. The trade group started the index in 2001.
Overall U.S. auto sales were soft in September on mixed reports from General Motors (NYSE: GM - News), which saw its overall sales of cars and light trucks edge up 0.3% in September, and Ford (NYSE: F - News), which saw sales plummet more than -20% for the same month.
On the earnings front, investors are growing increasingly impatient with smartphone pioneer Palm (Nasdaq: PALM - News) following the company's lackluster earnings release delivered after the market close yesterday. Palm announced that it had lost -$841,000, or -1 cent per share, in the first quarter on revenue that increased to $360.8 million. Palm's outlook didn't do much to raise investor confidence as the company is expecting a current quarter loss of -1 cent to -3 cents per share on revenue between $370 million and $380 million. On an adjusted basis, it expects a profit of 6-8 cents per share versus analyst estimates of 11 cents per share on sales of $413.5 million. Shares slumped -3.4%.
Shares of Pepsi Bottling Group (NYSE: PBG - News) reached an all-time high today after the largest bottler for PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP - News) reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday. The company said net income for the third quarter, which ended September 8th, rose 26% to $260 million, or $1.12 per share, from $207 million, or 86 cents per share, a year ago. The company also raised its full-year outlook. The stock rose 2.1%.
The M&A world saw Canada's TD Bank Financial Group (NYSE: TD - News) double its U.S. presence today when it acquired Mid-Atlantic regional bank Commerce Bancorp (NYSE: CBH - News) for $8.5 billion in cash and stock. As a result of the takeover, TD Bank will add nearly 460 branches along the East Coast when the deal closes in the spring of 2008, pending regulatory approval. Terms call for a 75% stock and 25% cash transaction that values Commerce at $42 per share, a 6% premium over the stock's closing price of $39.61 on Monday. Details have Commerce shareholders receiving 0.4142 shares of TD Bank common stock and $10.50 in cash for each share of Commerce owned.
Citigroup (NYSE: C - News) continued to reach into the world's second-largest economy by announcing earlier today that it would complete its acquisition of Japanese brokerage firm Nikko by paying $4.6 billion to buy out the remaining minority shareholders.
By the BullMarket.com Staff
Labels: C, CBH, F, Ford Motor co., General Motors Corp., GM, PALM, Palm Inc., PBG, PEP, Pepsico Inc., TD
posted by Stock Administrator @ 12:28 AM
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