Good morning. Happy Wednesday.
Feeding off the collapse of the US markets yesterday, The Asian/Pacific markets suffered steady losses today and Europe is currently performing no better.
In Asia/Pacific, India fell more than 3%; Seoul, Japan and Hong Kong dropped more than 2%; and Indonesia and Singapore fell more than 1%.
In Europe, Austria is down more than 2%, and Belgium, France, Amsterdam, Norway, Italy and London are down more than 1%.
Here in the States, an hour before the open, Nas 100 futures were up 2.75 to trade at 1150.25 and SPX futures were up 7.25 to trade at 813.25.
From barchart.com ->> ThyssenKrupp AG, Germany’s largest steelmaker, is down nearly 3% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the company to “underweight” from “equalweight” saying 2009 may be the worst year for the steel industry on record. Angang Steel, China’s second-biggest steelmaker, plunged 13% after saying earnings last year were half of the previous year. Global bank stocks continued lower today on fears that they will need to raise more capital. Barclays Plc is trading down 24% today for its seventh straight daily loss on speculation it may be forced to take more writedowns and be nationalized, while BNP Paribas, France’s largest bank, is down over 5%. French President Sarkozy late yesterday agreed to provide a further 10.5 billion euros ($13.5 billion) in aid for France’s biggest banks in exchange for their top executives giving up bonuses. HSBC Holdings Plc, which owns two banks in Hong Kong, fell over 4% on capital concerns while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Japan’s largest listed bank, lost 3.8% and National Australia Bank Ltd, Australia’s biggest bank by assets, dropped over 4%.
China Life (LFC) shares fell sharply Wednesday as the country’s leading insurer warned its 2008 profit may be down more than 50 percent from the previous year.
Samsung Electronics Co. may post its first quarterly loss ever, hit by falling prices for memory chips and flat screen TVs as well as waning consumer demand amid the global economic slump.
Ericsson AB (ERIC), the world’s largest maker of wireless networks, is up big after saying Q4 net income was higher than expected and it said it plans to deepen cost reductions and eliminate about 5,000 more jobs.
The owner of London’s Evening Standard said Wednesday it has agreed to sell a majority stake in the newspaper to Russian tycoon and former KGB spy Alexander Lebedev for what it described as “a nominal sum.”
Unemployment in Britain rose to its highest level in nearly a decade, hitting 6.1 percent in the September-November quarter, the government said Wednesday.
IBM (IBM) is trading higher in Europe this morning after saying its 2009 net income will climb to $9.20 a share, higher than analysts’ estimates of $8.75.
GM’s (GM) COO says the company will run out of money long before March 31.
Industrial conglomerate United Technologies Corp. (UTX) says its fourth quarter profit rose 8 percent, helped by one-time gains that exceeded restructuring costs even as revenue slipped.
Mining giant BHP Billiton (BHP) announced plans Wednesday to slash 6,000 jobs, or about 6 percent of its global work force, as it rushes to cope with plummeting demand because of the global financial crisis.
Air Products & Chemicals Inc. (APD), which supplies oxygen and other gases to the industrial and medical sectors, on Wednesday said its first-quarter profit fell 74 percent due to deteriorating business conditions and severance charges related to layoffs.
Luxury handbag maker Coach Inc. (COH) said Wednesday its second-quarter earnings fell 14 percent, hurt by the weak holiday season.
Drugmaker Abbott Laboratories (ABT) says its profit grew 28 percent in the fourth quarter as sales of its arthritis drug Humira climbed and the company gained on the sale of its spine business.
Investment manager BlackRock Inc. (BLK) on Wednesday reported an 84 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit, as revenue fell sharply and asset values plunged amid the global market meltdown.
CIT Group Inc. (CIT) late Tuesday slashed its quarterly dividend by 80 percent to 2 cents per share.
Myriad Pharmaceuticals (MYGN) on Wednesday agreed to buy Panacos Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s (PANC) HIV drug candidate bevirimat for $7 million.
Industrial parts maker Eaton Corp. (ETN) is reportedly slashing another 5,200 jobs.
Employees at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer have been notified by the newspaper’s owner, the Hearst Corp., that it expects all P-I jobs to be eliminated if no one purchases the paper.
Shipping and property company Alexander & Baldwin Inc. (AXB) said it will eliminate about 60 nonunion jobs, or 10 percent of the work force, at one of its units as it looks to lower costs to deal with the economic downturn.
U.S. Bancorp (USB) says its profit fell 72 percent in the fourth quarter as credit costs and securities losses climbed.
Bank of New York Mellon (BK) said fourth-quarter net income came in at $61 million, down 88% from a year earlier when the custodial bank and asset management company made $520 million.
CC Media Holdings (CCMO), the parent of Clear Channel Communications and Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings (CCO) is cutting 1,850 jobs or 9% of its workforce.
Citigroup (C) declared a quarterly dividend of a penny on the company’s common stock. The dividend will be paid on Feb. 27 to shareholders of record on Feb. 2.
CSX Corp. (CSX) reported a fourth-quarter profit of $692 million, or 63 cents a share, compared with $597 million, or 85 cents a share, a year earlier.
Time Warner (TWX) movie studio Warner Brothers will cut 800, or 10%, of its jobs, according to media reports.
Standard & Poor’s cut the corporate credit rating of Whirlpool (WHR) to BBB- from BBB and short-term corporate credit and commercial paper ratings to A-3 from A-2.
Gold is down 0.43% and Silver is up 1.61%.
Crude Oil is up 63 cents to trade at 41.47.
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| UPGRADES |
STI, BCSI, ACL, RECN, RYAAY, WGOV, AXL, LEA, F, HOG, JBL, UL |
| DOWNGRADES | VCP, ARA, FAST, LOGI, BOOM, CHRW, VIP, MBT, OZM, ICXT, WMT, HERO, OMCL, RDWR, HSC, BAC, WFR |
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| EARNINGS | |
| before the open | ABT, ADTN, APD, ATI, ABK, AMR, BLK ,BNI COH, DAL, FCX, HCBK, IGTE, LAB, NTRS, PM, PJC, BPOP, PGR, ROK, SMTS, UAUA, UTX, USB |
| during trading | EGN |
| after the close | ACTS, DOX, AVCT, CLDN, CHIC, CTXS, CNH, CNS, EBAY, FFIV, HXL, ISIL, KMP, LRCX, MTSC, NE, NVEC, PLCM, SANM, STX, SLM, SRDX |
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ECONOMIC RELEASES
7:00 MBA Purchase Applications
7:45 ICSC-Goldman Store Sales
8:55 Redbook
10:30 EIA Petroleum Status Report
13:00 Housing Market Index
13:00 4-Week Bill Auction
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