Sina, Worthington Drop; Wal-Mart Bids for DyS

123jump.com Staff
22 Dec, 2008
New York City

U.S. stocks dropped for the fourth day in a row. Insurance stocks led decliners. Of the stocks in S&P 500 index, 36 gained, 462 declined and 2 were unchanged. LSI Corp led decliners in the index with a loss of 22% and AIG led gainers in the S&P 500 index with a rise of 3.1%.

[R]3:40PM New York – U.S. stocks dropped for the fourth day in a row. Insurance stocks led decliners.[/R]


Of the stocks in S&P 500 index, 36 gained, 462 declined and 2 were unchanged.

LSI Corp led decliners in the index with a loss of 22% followed by losses in General Motors of 20%, in Jones Apparel of 19.3%, in JDS Uniphase of 17.3% and in Micron Technology of 15.7%.

AIG led gainers in the S&P 500 index with a rise of 3.1% followed by increase in Tenet Healthcare of 2.8%, in Regions Financial of 2.7% and in AON Corp of 1.5%.

Other Movers

American International Group, Inc ((AIG)) gained 5.0% or 8 cents to $1.68 after the insurer announced an agreement to sell its wholly owned subsidiary HSB Group, Inc., to the Munich Re Group. Under the terms of the transaction, Munich Re will acquire 100% of the outstanding shares of HSB Group for $742 million in cash and assume $76 million of outstanding HSB capital securities.

Distribucion y Servicio D&S SA ((DYS)) surged as high as 26% before trading up $4.85 to $23.85 after Wal-Mart Stores made an offer for the Chilean retailer for $2.66 billion. Wal-Mart has struggled in Japan and recently forced to close or sell its operations in Korea and Germany.

Ford Motor Company ((F)) lost 9.1% or 28 cents to $2.68 after investors worried that the company’s estimate of 2009 industry sales are too rosy.

General Motors Corporation ((GM)) lost 11.5% or 52 cents to $3.97 after Credit Suisse Group AG cut the stock to “underperform” from “neutral” and halved its share price estimate to $1 from $2. The government mandated restructuring is expected to wipe out existing debt holders.

Hess Corporation ((HES)) surged 2.1% or $1.01 to $48.35 after Credit Suisse upgraded oil and gas company to “outperform” from “neutral.”

MetLife ((MET)) dropped $5.11 or 13.7% to $32.30, Prudential Financial ((PRU)) fell $3.47 or 12% to $25.71 and Hartford Financial Services ((HIG)) dropped $1.36 to $15.70. Insurance stocks along with banks were on the decline.

Micron Technology, Inc ((MU)) slid 15.3% or 46 cents to $2.52 after JP Morgan lowered ‘09 sales and earnings per share estimates.

Monsanto Company ((MON)) plunged 7.5% or $5.40 to $66.23 after the world’s largest seed producer was cut to “neutral” from “buy” at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Nomura Holdings, Inc ((NMR)) rose 5.7% or 45 cents to $8.24 after Japan’s biggest brokerage led by financial companies, on speculation the central bank’s plan to buy corporate debt will ease credit risk and reduce bankruptcies.

Park Electrochemical Corp ((PKE)) fell 3.2% or 65 cents to $19.37 after the advanced materials company reported third quarter sales fell 23% to $49.2 million from $63.7 million a year ago. Net income in the quarter fell 67% to $2.9 million or 14 cents per diluted share compared to net income of $8.8 million or 43 cents per share a year ago.

Steelcase Inc ((SCS)) lost 3.3% or 19 cents to $5.54 after the global leader in the office furniture industry reported third quarter sales fell 8.4% to $811.3 million from $885.9 million a year ago. Net income in the quarter fell 99% to $0.4 million or zero cents a diluted share compared to net income of $31.3 million or 22 cents per share a year ago.

SINA Corporation ((SINA)) lost 13.5% or $3.95 to $25.29 after the operator of China’s biggest Internet portal agreed to acquire for $1.3 billion all of the assets of Focus Media''s digital out-of-home advertising networks, including LCD display network, poster frame network and in-store network. Focus Media will retain its Internet advertising division, the movie theater advertising network portion of its commercial location network and certain traditional billboards.

Standard Pacific Corp ((SPF)) increased 3.6% or 5 cents to $1.41 after the homebuilder said in its preliminary discussions and the exchange of information with TOUSA, Inc. for a possible transaction.

Walgreen Company ((WAG)) dropped 5.8% or $1.53 or $24.55 after the retail drugstore chain reported first quarter sales rose 6.4% to $14.9 billion from $14.0 billion a year ago. Net income in the quarter fell 10.4% to $408 million or 41 cents per diluted share compared to net income of $456 million or 46 cents per share a year ago. Comparable same store sales rose 1.7%.

Worthington Industries, Inc ((WOR)) fell 13.3% or $1.65 to $10.67 after Goldman Sachs said that the largest U.S. steelmaker may violate its debt covenants by May and the company''s dividend may be cut or eliminated.