FPL and Constellation Energy in $11 B Deal

123jump.com Staff
18 Dec, 2005
New York City

FPL is reported to buy Constellation Energy for $11 billion. The first deal to be completed since the utility industry deregulation by Congress. A flood of economic reports await investors in the last week before the holiday period begins. Reports on housing market, PPI, durable goods orders are just a few of many economic reports that investors will have to digest during this week. Investors will also closely watch earnings from Morgan Stanley, FedEx, Nike and General Mills.

Investors will face a flood of economic data and earnings news in the coming week. Reports on inflation, housing starts and sales, wholesale inflation and production of durables goods will we watched by investors.

Economic Reports

Housing stocks may come under sharp focus as investors digest report on November housing starts and sale of existing homes. Most economists are expecting housing market to show signs of cooling after five years of healthy and often perceived as unsustainable gains.

Economists are looking for November new home starts to be released on Tuesday at least to match the October level of 2.014 million. Existing November home sales is expected to be lower than that of seasonally adjusted October sales level of 1.424 million.

Report on November durable goods order to be released on Wednesday is expected to rise 1% following a rise of 3.7% in October. Build-up of inventory and Katrina related rebuilding will support the rise in durable goods order.

Final read on third economic growth is expected to show 4.3% matching the initial estimates of the economic growth.

Producer Price Index is expected to fall by 0.5% in November and core PPI is expected to rise 0.2%. The index in October gained 0.7% and core index dropped 0.3%.


Earnings Reports

Morgan Stanley, FedEx, Nike, and General Mills are few of the leading companies expected to release earnings.

Morgan Stanley ((MWD)) is expected to report fourth quarter earnings of $1.08 slightly below $1.09 from a year ago. Recent earnings reports from Lehman Bros., Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns have shown a significant jump in earnings from a year ago. In the last quarter shares of Morgan Stanley have jumped less than 8%.

FedEx ((FDX)) is expected to report earnings of $1.40 compared to $1.21 a year ago on revenue growth of 10%. The stock has gained 25% in the last three months.

Nike ((NKE)) earning for the quarter is expected to be $1.03 vs. actual earnings of 97 cents a year ago on revenue growth of 9%. The stock has jumped close to 10% in the last three months of trading.

General Mills ((GIS)) is expected to report earnings decline to 96 cents vs. actual earnings of 99 cents a year ago on revenue growth of less than 3%. The stock has gained close to 8% in the last three months of trading.