Top 10 News Items 11/30-12/04: Non-Farm Payrolls Much Better-Than-Expected, Comcast to Take 51% Stake in NBC Universal, BofA to Repay $45B in TARP Funds
Here is a recap of the top news items from this week on Wall Street:
1. The always-highly-anticipated jobs report came in much better-than-expected on Friday of this week: the change in non-farm payrolls for November was down 11,000, vs. the consensus of down 125,000. The unemployment rate fell to 10.0%. While the drastic upside surprise boosted futures sharply, traders began taking profits as the market opened, and soon after, as the dollar began rallying, stocks began selling off, putting bulls in quite a less cheery mood.
2. Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) will dive headfirst into the world of TV programming, announcing the formation of a joint venture between it and GE (NYSE: GE) related to NBC Universal. Comcast will hold a 51% stake, while GE will remain a 49% holder. Shares of Comcast finished this week about 8% higher and GE shares was just modestly higher.
3. On Wednesday after the close, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) announced its plans to repay the $45 billion in TARP funds it owes US taxpayers. The repayment consists of $26.2 billion in excess liquidity and $18.8 billion in proceeds from the sale of "common equivalent securities." The bank priced 1.286 billion shares at $15. The stock closed Friday's trading session up 3%.
4. Following last week's debt crisis in Dubai, traders were relieved to find out that the problem may not result in fallout, and, instead, might just be a Dubai-only issue.
5. The Street was shocked on Tuesday night when GM announced that its almost-brand new CEO, Fritz Henderson, would be stepping down. The automaker said that its Chairman, Ed Whitacre, will take over Henderson's role until a replacement is found.
6. Amid continued dollar turmoil, gold (NYSE: GLD) broke out to an all-time high this week, pushing over the $1,200 level for the first time ever, only to give up gains on Friday as the dollar strengthened. To end this week's trading, gold fell more than 40 points to around $1,170.
7. Shares of Take-Two Interactive (Nasdaq: TTWO) were absolutely smashed on Friday after the company lowered guidance on Thursday night. The company said it expects to report Q4 revs of $325-$350 million, versus the consensus of $371 million, and adj-EPS of $0.05-$0.10, versus the consensus of $0.33. For FY09, Take-Two sees revs of $950-$975 million, versus the consensus of $995.1 million and a loss of $1.10 to $1.15, versus the consensus of $(0.85). The Company expects to report a non-GAAP net loss per share for fiscal 2010 in the range of $0.40 to $0.60 on $1.0 billion to $1.2 billion in revenue. The consensus is $0.64 and $1.24 billion, respectively. The stock fell 29% on Friday.
8. Retail sales for the month of November came in this week, with most retailers reporting lower-than-expected same stores sales. Despite this, the XRT (NYSE: XRT) finished this week about flat.
9. Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) reported solid Cyber Monday sales this week, helping push the stock to an all-time high at $145.91. The stock finished this week about 4% higher.
10. Golf fans were unpleasantly surprised this week Tiger Woods finally broke his silence about last Friday's car crash. Woods issued a statement via his personal website in which he admitted complete fault for the accident, where he crashed his black Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant in front of his home before hitting a tree. Many media sources suggested that Tiger basically admitted to adultery. Yikes...
Create E-mail AlertRelated Categories
Special ReportsStocks Mentioned
+0.92
-0.15Related Entities
Sign up for StreetInsider Free!
Receive full access to all new and archived articles, unlimited portfolio tracking, e-mail alerts, custom newswires and RSS feeds - and more!
