Wall Street Addict

Research in Motion (NasdaqGS:RIMM) reports quarterly earnings Thursday after the market closes. Analysts are expecting EPS of 0.87. The Short Term PowerRating for RIMM is 5.
Standard and Poor's downgraded the credit rating of Washington Mutual (NYSE:WM) again on Wednesday. The stock was down more than 20% on the day. The Short Term PowerRating for WM is 4.
The biggest loser in the Dow industrials on Wednesday was American International Group (NYSE:AIG), which lost more than 29%. The Short Term PowerRating for AIG is 2.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) is getting a $5 billion investment from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. The Short Term PowerRating for GS is 4.
Reporting earnings Thursday morning after the bell, Accenture (NYSE:ACN) is expected to announce earnings per share of 0.66. The Short Term PowerRating for ACN is 4.
Broadcom (NasdaqGS:BRCMrallied by more than 4% after a judge's ruling that Qualcomm (NasdaqGS:QCOM) had infringed on patents owned by Broadcom. The Short Term PowerRatings for BRCM and QCOM are both 6.

Labels: Accenture, ACN, AIG, American International Group, BRCM, Broadcom, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., GS, QCOM, Qualcomm, Research In Motion Ltd., RIMM, Stocks to Watch, Washington Mutual, WM

Washington Mutual (NYSE:WM) is now officially on sale, with potential acquirers including JP Morgan Chase (NYSE:JPM). The Short Term PowerRatings for WM and JPM are 5 and 4 respectively.
SanDisk (NasdaqGS:SNDK) is the target of an unsolicited takeover bid from Samsung Electronics. Samsung has offered $5.85 billion for the company. The Short Term PowerRating for SNDK is 4.
Among the best performing stocks were those related to gold and mining. Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:ABX) was up nearly 13% on the day. Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) gained more than 9%. The Short Term PowerRatings for ABX and NEM are both 3.
Reporting earnings Thursday morning before the market opens, FedEx (NYSE:FDX) is expected to announce earnings per share of $1.21. The Short Term PowerRating for FDX is 5.
Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) fell more than 27% on Wednesday despite beating analyst estimates by more than 50 cents after the close on Tuesday. The Short Term PowerRating for MS is 7.

Labels: ABX, FDX, JP Morgan Chase And Co., JPM, Morgan Stanley, MS, NEM, SNDK, Stocks to Watch, Washington Mutual, WM

Financials: Washington Mutual (WM) fell 16% on Wednesday after reporting that credit losses for the year could be as much as $2.9 billion. Adami concedes Goldman Sachs (GS) could trade down to $205 and that is where investors should look to buy it. Finerman likes Goldman and is currently long the company and short Lehman Brothers Holdings (LEH) and Merrill Lynch (MER). Najarian recommends State Street (STT). Morgan Stanley (MS) took a $3.7 billion write-down for the fourth-quarter.
Crude oil hit another record high on Wednesday trading up to $98.62. Addison Armstrong, Director of Market Research at Tradition Energy joined the show and said the long term trend is still bullish for oil. He sees that oil demand is strong and supply is very tight and the oil markets have zero margin for error right now. Najarian mentions the largest oil trader on the New York Mercantile Exchange told him that oil is the new currency and it's going to $150.
Consumer Trade
Same-store sales are set to be released for some of the biggest retailers on Thursday. Finerman likes that expectations are low and she still owns Wal-Mart (WMT) Adami declares the only way to play the retailers is with MasterCard (MA).
Word on the Street
American International Group (AIG) falls 3% after hours on a 27% drop in third quarter profits. Cisco Systems (CSCO) falls 9% after hours despite a 37% rise in first quarter profits. Research In Motion (RIMM) and Amazon (AMZN) bucked the market weakness to close higher on Wednesday. Adami mentions that Citigroup upgraded Allstate (ALL) and he would own it here for a trade, and stop out at $50. First Solar (FSLR) explodes up 22% after hours on a blowout quarter.
Pops & Drops
Pops - Potash (POT) traded up 2%.
Onyx Pharmaceuticals (ONXX) exploded up 18% after the drug company posted a third quarter profit.
DirectTV (DTV) traded up 3% after subscribers grew by 400,000.
TurboChef Technologies (OVEN) traded up 9% after the oven maker reported a smaller loss.
Drops - Fannie Mae (FNM) fell 10%
Ford Motor (F) fell 5% in front of earnings set for Thursday.
Yahoo (YHOO) fell 8% after Alibaba.com fell 17%.
Capital One (COF) fell 16% after warning on credit losses.
Fluor (FLR) fell 6% after missing Wall Street estimates.
Final Trade
Seymour thinks its payday with Gold Fields (GFI).
Adami's play is Short Dow30 Proshares (DOG).
Finerman still recommends being long Goldman Sachs (GS) and short Lehman Brothers (LEH).
Najarian likes green play Evergreen Solar (ESLR).

Labels: AIG, ALL, AMZN, CSCO, DTV, Fast Money Recap, FSLR, GS, LEH, MA, MER, MS, ONXX, OVEN, POT, RIMM, STT, WM, WMT

Wall Street pared its losses to trade flat Thursday, but remained uneasy as disappointing results from Bank of America Corp. provided further evidence that the credit crisis is hurting the economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average, down as much as 60 points earlier in the session, rebounded in afternoon trading to nearly positive territory as bargain hunters entered the market, betting Thursday's dismal data could convince the Federal Reserve to lower rates again.
Still, investors remained spooked after BofA -- considered a bellwether for the banking industry because it has branches across the country -- said "significant dislocations" in the capital markets sent third-quarter profits down 32 percent. Citigroup Inc. and Washington Mutual Inc. reported similar results in recent days.
Banks and brokerages have been hurt during the third quarter in the fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis. As people with weak credit defaulted on loans at an alarming rate, it triggered a global aversion for risk that led the credit markets to freeze up.
Treasurys rallied and the dollar fell to a new low against the euro after the Labor Department said the number of newly laid off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits shot up last week by the largest amount since February. The report was far worse than economists expected, and signaled that the labor market could be starting to weaken from a downturn in housing and the global credit turmoil.
Source: Joe Bel Bruno, AP Business Writer

Labels: BAC, C, ETFC, GOOG, WM

Shares of Countrywide Financial Corp. leaped higher after the Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate early Friday that will make it easier for the struggling mortgage lender to raise cash.
The Federal Reserve slashed the discount rate -- or the interest rate the Fed charges commercial banks for loans -- to 5.75 percent from 6.25 percent, making cheaper financing available to a company with cash sources that have been quickly drying up.
Shares of Countrywide rose $1.98, or 10.5 percent, to $20.93 in morning trading after losing 13 percent Thursday. Shares are still down almost 50 percent for the year. Just two weeks ago, Countrywide said it had nearly $50 billion in readily accessible cash, but the Calabasas, Calif., lender said Thursday it had borrowed $11.5 billion from a syndicate of 40 banks.
Investors have been nervous that the nation's biggest mortgage lender needs to borrow from banks. Banks charge higher interest rates and require more restrictive conditions than Countrywide's other financing sources, which include mortgage-backed bonds, commercial paper and warehouse financing.
Lehman Brothers analyst Bruce Harting wrote in a research report that Countrywide is the beneficiary of the Fed injecting more liquidity into the economy. He said that other stocks rallying on this news include companies with liquidity trouble or mortgage exposure, such as Washington Mutual Inc. and Downey Financial Corp.
Published by AP

Labels: CFC, DSL, WM