Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News
SeekingAlpha Editor Eli Hoffmann brigns us the "Must Know News" for Friday, January 04, 2008.
U.S. MARKETS
* U.S. markets spent most of the day in positive territory, but ended Thursday relatively flat. Dow +0.1%. S&P 0%. Nasdaq -0.27%. Oil once again traded through but failed to hold $100/barrel, closing down $0.44 to $99.18. Gold gained another $9.10 to $869.10. Ten-year notes were flat.
GLOBAL MARKETS
* Asia: Japan's Nikkei tumbled 4% on concerns a stronger yen. The Hang Seng gained 2.35%. Shanghai was up 0.78%. Standouts included Nissan (NSANY -9.2%) [see below], Sony (SNE -6.6%), Canon (CAJ -6%), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MTU -5%), CNOOC (CEO +5.6%) and PetroChina (PTR +7.4%).
* European stocks posted modest gains early Friday, reversing a two-day drop. FTSE +0.62%. CAC +0.02%. Dax -0.33%. Rio Tinto (RTP +2.9%) and BHP Billiton (BHP +2.5%) led gains.
* During Q4, U.K. retailers issued the most negative sales updates in almost two years, with some 22% of retailers posting sales losses.
MUST-KNOW NEWS FOR FRIDAY
1. Major automakers reported lower U.S. sales for December.
2. Boeing (BA) sold an industry record 1,413 planes in 2007, topping a previous 1,044.
3. Microsoft (MSFT) sold 4.3M Xbox 360 consoles in Q4, but said it was "disappointed" with problems at its online gaming service.
4. Regulators are probing several Wall St. brokerage firms to determine whether they sold CDOs to investors just as the market was collapsing.
5. Although State Street (STT +8.2%) said it would take a $279M Q4 charge against potential legal liabilities related to subprime investments, investors were more impressed by the firm's Q4 outlook of 30% revenue gains and EPS excluding charges of $4.54-4.57.
6. Sinopec (SNP) denied a report by China's official Xinhua news agency that 2007 net profit surged to 70 billion yuan ($9.6 billion), saying it doesn't yet have a final figure.
7. Talbots (TLB) will exit its Talbots Kids and Talbots Mens concepts by Sep. after an internal review showed weak potential.
8. WuXi PharmaTech (WX) will pay $151M for U.S. medical-research firm Apptec Laboratory Services.
9. Only 6,300 people/day tune in to Fox's (NWS) newly launched business network, according to Nielsen.
10. Shares of Jackson Hewitt Tax Services (JTX) dropped 23.1% after the IRS said it may ban tax preparers from offering customers refund loans and audit insurance, which may encourage tax fraud.
11. Dutch telecom KPN (KPN) said it is not in merger talks with Spain's Telefonica (TEF) dispelling rumors.
TODAY'S NUMBERS
* Non-farm payrolls @ 8:30 AM • ISM Non-manufacturing @ 10 AM • EIA Natural Gas @ 10:30
Thanks Eli!
