GM Drops 4.6% on Delphi's Bankruptcy

Elena
10 Oct, 2005
New York City

Insurance provider Lincoln National Corp. agreed to buy Jefferson-Pilot Corp. for $7.5 billion in cash and stock in a deal that will create one of the nation's biggest public life-insurance companies. General Motors fell 4.2% after auto parts maker Delphi was pressed to file under Chapter 11 of federal bankruptcy on Saturday.

U.S. MARKET AVERAGES

The three major averages have been trading in a narrow range, staying close to their lows of the day. Eight of the ten economic sectors post losses. Volume has been light as many traders took the Columbus Day holiday off. Stock markets opened mostly higher as investors welcomed news of a $7.5 billion acquisition in the insurance sector and an investment rating upgrade at International Business Machines Corp., but later the averages lost their early gains and since then have been trading below the flat line. The weakness came after auto-parts supplier Delphi Corp. filed for bankruptcy over the weekend.

Investors lack trading activity as they eagerly await the start of third-quarter earnings reports and end-of-the-year profit outlooks.Dow component Alcoa, the world’s largest aluminum producer, will kick off the reporting season when it announces quarterly results after the closing bell.

The gold sector is one of the notable gainers, reaching an 18-year high of nearly $480 per ounce. HMO stocks are higher as well. The disk drive, Internet and software spaces post modest gains.

Energy sector is a notable decliner, down by 2.1% on extended profit-taking last week.

The semiconductor sector is among the morning's worst performers, down by 2.1%, dragged largely by Xilinx ((XLNX)). The stock’s drop is more than 13% on lowered quarterly sales guidance released before the opening bell.

GM ((GM)) is the worst performing Dow component, dropping by 4.6% on Delphi's ((DPH)) bankruptcy, reaching its lowest level since May. Exxon Mobil ((XOM)) is down by 1.8% after last-week’s gains on profi-taking.

Merck ((MRK)) is the best performer among the Dow components after a sharp drop on Friday on concerns about the company's VIOXX trial in New Jersey. The stock is up 2.3%. Wal-Mart and IBM are notable gainers on positive comments from analysts. Wal-Mart ((WMT)) is up 1.7% on an encouraging report from Barron's, while IBM ((IBM)) is higher by 1.6% on an upgrade from Citigroup.

In late morning, the Dow Jones industrial average declined 3.36, or 0.03%, the Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 3.87, or 0.32%, while the Nasdaq composite index sank 4.96, or 0.24%.
The U.S. government bond market was closed Monday.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Auto parts maker Delphi ((DPH)) dropped 57% after the company was pressed to file under Chapter 11 of federal bankruptcy on Saturday after failing to negotiate a restructuring with previous parent company General Motors ((GM)) and the United Auto Workers union. The filing was the largest in the US auto industry and was linked to high wage and benefit expenses. General Motors fell 4.6%..

Auto system company Dana Corp. ((DCN)) lost 29.9% after it said yesterday it will have to review earnings for 2004 and part of 2005 and postpone its third-quarter report, because of accounting controls issues. Dana has not set a new date for its third-quarter earnings release, which had been slated for October 19. The company has also withdrawn earnings forecasts for the fiscal year 2005.

Dow component International Business Machines Corp. ((IBM)) added 1.7% after the company was upgraded at Citigroup to “buy” from “hold”. The broker cited as a reason the company’s strenght in computerr services, and gains in market share for mid-range and high-end servers market.

Another Dow component, Intel Corp. ((INTC)), was up 1.7%, after a report in Wall Street Journal announcing that the company will introduce a series of dual-core server chips, as a part of its competition with rival Advanced Micro Devices ((AMD)). The new chips promise up to a 50% improvement over systems with two single-core processors. Advanced Micro also rose 0.4%.

Jefferson-Pilot Corp. ((JP)) is up 6.7% after the news that t will be bought by insurance provider Lincoln National Corp. ((LNC)) for about $7.5 billion in cash and stock. This would be one of the biggest acquisitions in the financial sector recently. Lincoln National was up 1.5%.

ECONOMIC NEWS

No major economic news release is due out on Monday.

INTERNATIONAL MARKET NEWS

Asian-Pacific benchmarks finished mixed with the Japanese Nikkei closed for a national holiday. Across the region Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.3% with China Resources Enterprise and oil company CNOOC among the biggest gainers. South Korea’s Kospi rebounded from last week’s decline of 3% to climb 2% on third-quarter earnings forecasts and positive consumer sentiment index data. The Tokyo foreign exchange market was closed Monday.

European markets closed in the positive, boosted by telecom equipment stocks on news that Ericsson is near a deal with its smaller rival Marconi, resource shares and political news from Germany, saying that Angela Merkel will take over as the new government’s chancellor. Narrow trading range on Wall Street capped European gains. The German DAX 30 added 0.3%, the French CAC 40 rose 0.2%, and London’s FTSE 100 increased 0.2%.

ENERGY, METALS, CURRENCIES

Oil prices declined as traders weighed the approaching winter season in the Northern Hemisphere and the lower fuel demand. Light sweet crude for November delivery fell 74 cents to trade at $61.10 a barrel on the Nymex. Heating oil lost about 3 cents to $1.935 a gallon. Gasoline slipped nearly 4 cents to $1.792 a gallon. London Brent dropped $1.04 to $58.17.

Gold hit an 18-year high, climbing close to $480 in European trading. In London the precious metal December contract briefly touched $479.60 per ounce, but then retreated to $477.40. per troy ounce, up from $475. In Hong Kong gold rose $6 to close at $478.55. Silver jumped to a 10-month high, trading at $7.82 up from $7.67.

Copper hit a record price of $1.82 a pound on supply-and-demand issues.

In European trading the U.S. dollar climbed against its major counterparts on positive payroll data Friday and news that Angela Merkel will take over as the new German chancellor, a fact raising doubts about the healing reforms in the country’s economy. The euro was quoted at $1.2044, down from $1.2121.The dollar changed hands at 114.27 yen, up from 113.76. The British pound was trading at $1.752, down from $1.7624.

EARNINGS NEWS

Northrop Grumman Corp. ((NOC)), defense company, announced that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita will lead to a 25-to-30-cents-a-share charge in Q3 and repairs will amount to approximately $1 billion. The company revised its guidance for 2005 earnings to the range of $3.55 to $3.65 a share, down vs. a previous outlook of between $3.90 and $4 a share. The company stated it envisages a total hurricane impact on 2005 earnings of 40 cents a share, with work delays accounting for 8 cents of that total. Northrop announced that hurricanes will not damage its overall financial performance.

Nordic American Tanker Shipping Ltd. ((NAT)), oil tanker shipper, posted Q3 net income on Monday of 26 cents a share, down from 57 cents a share in the same period last year missing analysts’ expectations of 43 cents a share. The company announced that its Q3 dividend would be 60 cents a share, payable Nov. 17 to shareholders of record on Nov. 2.

W.R. Berkley Corp. ((BER)), insurance holding company, announced after the closing bell on Friday that it anticipates losses in Q3 of 24 cents a share after-tax, due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The company's pre-tax estimates involve losses of $35 million incurred from Katrina and $15 million from Rita, and are net of applicable reinsurance and reinstatement premiums.

Dominion Homes Inc. ((DHOM)), single family homes builder, announced after Friday's closing bell that its Q3 earnings will miss analysts’ expectations of 38 cents a share, due to lower-than-expected home sales and deliveries. The company stated that it sold 433 homes in Q3, down from 598 homes a year earlier, a decline of 28%. The sales value of the homes sold during Q3 declined 25%, to $81.8 million from $109.4 million in the year-ago period.

Unisys Corp. ((UIS)), provider of services and technology to commercial businesses, announced that it would post a Q3 loss of 7 cents to 9 cents a share, including a two-cent charge for a change in debt redemption, missing analysts’ forecasts of a loss of 4 cents a share. The company had previously forecasted earnings of 4 cents to 6 cents a share. The net loss, including pension expense, would amount to 16 cents to 18 cents a share. Revenue would drop 4% on lower-than-anticipated results in both its services and technology businesses.

Mercantile Bank Corp. ((MBWM)), banking services company, reported on Monday that Q3 net income advanced to 56 cents a share, up vs. 41 cents in the year-ago period on revenue growth, matching analysts’ estimate. Net interest income rose 30% while non-interest income came to a 15% increase over the comparable period last year.

CORPORATE NEWS

Lincoln National Corp., insurance provider, has agreed to buy Jefferson-Pilot Corp. for $7.5 billion, or $55.48 a share in cash and stock. The deal is one of the most significant in recent times and will create one of the nation's biggest public life-insurance companies.