Top 10 News Items 10/11-10/15: Fed Ready to Charge Ahead with QE2, Google Reports Blowout Quarter, Apple Crosses $300
Here is a recap of the top news items from this week:
1. Indications from the Fed this week showed further evidence that QE2 is undoubtedly on its way. The minutes from the last Fed meeting, released on Tuesday of this week, discussed why that accommodation may be 'appropriate before long'. Several members noted that economic growth remains too sluggish to make satisfactory progress toward reducing the unemployment rate. Additionally, Chairman Bernanke, speaking in Boston on Friday, said that he sees a case for further action given the current too-low inflation.
2. Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) shares surged a whopping $60 on Friday following blow Q3 results on Thursday. The search-giant reported EPS of $7.64, vs. the analyst consensus estimate of $6.68, on sales, ex-TAC (traffic acquisition costs), of $5.48 billion. Shares of Google closed this week's session just about $602.
3. Ahead of results on Monday, shares of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) crossed the $300 level this week. It seems investor appetite for the stock cannot be satisfied as shares are up an astonishing 30% since the beginning of September. The Street is currently looking for Apple to report quarterly EPS of $4.06 on sales of $18.86 billion, although the whisper number for earnings is somewhere around $4.80 per share.
4. Earnings season kicked off in earnest this week, with (in addition to Google) GE (NYSE: GE), JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM), Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), AMD (NYSE: AMD) and CSX (NYSE: CSX) reporting.
5. Bank stocks had a rough week following what seems to be a newly-forming trend: banks halting foreclosures across the country. BofA (NYSE: BAC) closed this week about 8% lower, Citi (NYSE: C) fell by about 5% and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) was down about 9%, to name a few.
6. On the M&A front: Gymboree (Nasdaq: GYMB) was acquired in an $1.8 billion private-equity deal and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) acquired King Pharma (NYSE: KG) for $3.6 billion.
7. For-profit education stocks were absolutely crushed this week as Apollo Group (Nasdaq: APOL) announced with its Q1 earnings results that it has withdrawn its FY11 guidance due to a tough market. Apollo shares tumbled 23% on Thursday.
8. Shares of Seagate (NYSE: STX) rallied more than 22% on Friday following reports that the company has received preliminary interest for a deal to be taken private. The news sparked interest in Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) as well as Western Digital (NYSE: WDC).
9. St. Joe (NYSE: JOE) shares fell nearly 20% this week as David Einhorn, speaking at the Value Investing Congress conference, said that he is shorting the stock. Responding to the news, Bruce Berkowitz's Fairholme, the largest shareholder in the company, added to his position as traders were selling on the Einhorn news.
10. The Obama administration announced Tuesday that it is removing the moratorium on deep-water oil drilling, but it is unclear how long it will take for rig to get back up and running in the Gulf of Mexico.
1. Indications from the Fed this week showed further evidence that QE2 is undoubtedly on its way. The minutes from the last Fed meeting, released on Tuesday of this week, discussed why that accommodation may be 'appropriate before long'. Several members noted that economic growth remains too sluggish to make satisfactory progress toward reducing the unemployment rate. Additionally, Chairman Bernanke, speaking in Boston on Friday, said that he sees a case for further action given the current too-low inflation.
2. Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) shares surged a whopping $60 on Friday following blow Q3 results on Thursday. The search-giant reported EPS of $7.64, vs. the analyst consensus estimate of $6.68, on sales, ex-TAC (traffic acquisition costs), of $5.48 billion. Shares of Google closed this week's session just about $602.
3. Ahead of results on Monday, shares of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) crossed the $300 level this week. It seems investor appetite for the stock cannot be satisfied as shares are up an astonishing 30% since the beginning of September. The Street is currently looking for Apple to report quarterly EPS of $4.06 on sales of $18.86 billion, although the whisper number for earnings is somewhere around $4.80 per share.
4. Earnings season kicked off in earnest this week, with (in addition to Google) GE (NYSE: GE), JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM), Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), AMD (NYSE: AMD) and CSX (NYSE: CSX) reporting.
5. Bank stocks had a rough week following what seems to be a newly-forming trend: banks halting foreclosures across the country. BofA (NYSE: BAC) closed this week about 8% lower, Citi (NYSE: C) fell by about 5% and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) was down about 9%, to name a few.
6. On the M&A front: Gymboree (Nasdaq: GYMB) was acquired in an $1.8 billion private-equity deal and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) acquired King Pharma (NYSE: KG) for $3.6 billion.
7. For-profit education stocks were absolutely crushed this week as Apollo Group (Nasdaq: APOL) announced with its Q1 earnings results that it has withdrawn its FY11 guidance due to a tough market. Apollo shares tumbled 23% on Thursday.
8. Shares of Seagate (NYSE: STX) rallied more than 22% on Friday following reports that the company has received preliminary interest for a deal to be taken private. The news sparked interest in Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) as well as Western Digital (NYSE: WDC).
9. St. Joe (NYSE: JOE) shares fell nearly 20% this week as David Einhorn, speaking at the Value Investing Congress conference, said that he is shorting the stock. Responding to the news, Bruce Berkowitz's Fairholme, the largest shareholder in the company, added to his position as traders were selling on the Einhorn news.
10. The Obama administration announced Tuesday that it is removing the moratorium on deep-water oil drilling, but it is unclear how long it will take for rig to get back up and running in the Gulf of Mexico.
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