StreetInsider.com Top 10 News Items 7/28-8/1: Merrill, ImClone, Biogen/Elan, More...

August 1, 2008 1:55 PM EDT

StreetInsider.com Top 10 News Items for the Week of July 28th - August 1st. This is a recap of this week's major news in the U.S. stock market.

1. Late Monday, Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) sold $30.6 billion gross notional amount of U.S. super senior ABS CDOs to an affiliate of Lone Star Funds for a purchase price of $6.7 billion. In addition, Merrill sold 380,000,000 shares of common stock for an aggregate amount of $8.55 billion. Shares of Merrill traded up 8% Tuesday following the news, although shares were off 11% on Monday ahead of the news.

2. On Thursday, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) offered to acquire partner Imclone Systems (Nasdaq: IMCL) for $60 per share offer. Shares of Imclone traded up 38% on Thursday, above $60 per share, on hopes of a higher bid.

3. Late Thursday, Biogen Idec (Nasdaq: BIIB) and Elan Corporation (NYSE: ELN) disclosed two confirmed cases of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients treated with TYSABRI in the commercial setting. PML is a rare and often fatal brain disease. On Friday, shares of Biogen were down 25% and Elan was down 45%.

4. On Thursday, it was reported that U.S. Q4 GDP was revised to show a drop of 0.2%, versus the reported number of a 0.6% gain. The latest quarter (Q2) showed a gain of 1.9%.

5. On Friday, Nonfarm Payrolls were reported down 51K, versus the consensus of a 75K drop. The unemployment rate rose to 5.7%

6. The Federal Reserve extended the securities dealer loan programs through Jan 30. The also introduced 84-day Term Auction Facility (TAF) loans as a complement to 28-day TAF loans.

7. On Friday, General Motors (NYSE: GM) reports a Q2 adjusted loss of $11.21 per share, versus the consensus of a $2.62 loss. Revenues were $38.16 billion, versus the consensus of $44.57 billion. Shares of GM fell 5% on Friday.

8. On Tuesday, U.S. Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) reports Q2 EPS of $5.65, well above the analyst estimate of $3.91. Shares rose 10% on the week.

9. Visa (NYSE: V) and Mastercard (NYSE: MA) both reported strong Q2 results, but investors were concerned about slowing revenue growth. Visa is down 8% since reporting results. Mastercard is down 16% in that time.

10: Showing the strength in solar, sector leader First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR) reports Q2 EPS of $0.85, well above the analyst estimate of $0.58.


Related Categories

Special Reports

Stocks Mentioned

BIIB 47.07

+0.15 +0.32%
Volume: 1,341,516
Track BIIB

BMY 25.44

+0.06 +0.24%
Volume: 15,355,906
Track BMY

ELN 6.36

+0.09 +1.44%
Volume: 1,618,713
Track ELN

FSLR 119.31

-0.99 -0.82%
Volume: 774,607
Track FSLR

GM 1.43

+0.00 +0.00%
Volume: 341,588,570
Track GM

IMCL 69.99

+0.00 +0.00%
Volume: 853,172
Track IMCL

MA 236.89

+1.30 +0.55%
Volume: 516,527
Track MA

MER 11.64

+0.00 +0.00%
Volume: 49,928,111
Track MER

V 80.66

+0.33 +0.41%
Volume: 1,705,605
Track V

X 44.26

+1.21 +2.81%
Volume: 8,662,207
Track X


Related Entities


Add Your Comment