Stock Tickers: GM, HD, AMGN, CYTK, XOM, SMH, OIH, SIRI, SONS, AMZN, T, TWX
DJIA 12,474.52; Up 11.37 (0.09%)
NASDAQ 2,423.16; Up 7.87 (0.33%)
S&P500 1,416.60; Down 1.70 (0.12%)
10YR-Bond 4.664%; Down 0.046
NYSE Volume 3,334,104,000
NASD Volume 2,423,423,000
Today started as out as a huge uupday with triple-digit gains, but we ended up well into red territory before late day buying put the market in positive territory. The ISM reading posted 51.4 for manufacturing in December, up from 49.5 in November. The FOMC minutes also still showed inflationary concerns are present. Take a look at NYSE trading volume and see that it is OVER 3 Billion Shares.
General Motors (GM) fell 4% to $29.45 after weak sales for December and after Banc of America cut an already weak neutral trating to a SELL.
The big story of the day was Home Depot (HD) and CEO nardelli agreeing to call it splitsville, with a $210 million exit package. HD shares rose 2.4% to $41.10.
Cytokinetics (CYTO) rose 11% to $8.34 on an Amgen heart failure drug pact.
Exxon (XOM) fell over 3% to $74.11 and Oil Service HOLDRs (OIH) fell 4.5% to $133.35 after oil fell 4.5% to under $59.00 today.
The Semiconductor HOLDRs (SMH) fell 0.2% to $33.57 after Goldman Sachs downgraded many key chip names.
Sirius (SIRI) rose 5.6% to $3.74 after closing 2006 with more than 6.02 million subscribers and claiming positive cash flows.
Sonus Networks (SONS) rose 7.4% to $7.08 after claiming record orders for Q4.
Amazon.com (AMZN) fell 1.9%as Citigroup issued a SELL rating on the stock.
AT&T (T) fell over 2% to $34.95 after the first full trading session since approval of its BellSouth merger.
Time Warner (TWX) rose 1% to $22.03 after selling its Farmer lifestyle magazine, closing the swap with Comcast for cable assets, after agreeing to carry the new Fox Business Network and after a strong movie weekend.
Jon C. Ogg
January 3, 2007