Top 10 News Items 3/1-3/5: Nonfarm Payrolls Better-Than-Expected, Greece Sells Debt in the Open Market, Ford Surpasses GM as Top US Autoseller
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Here is a recap of the top news items from this week on Wall Street:
1. The Labor Department reported Friday that 36,000 jobs were lost in February, below the 68,000 losses that economists had expected. The unemployment rate for the month, meanwhile, remained steady at 9.7 percent. Economists had forecasted that the unemployment rate would edge up slightly to 9.8 percent. Prior to this week's number, pundits had been speculating on exactly how much recent snowstorms would be affecting the numbers, however, the Labor Department said it was unclear on just how much of an impact this had.
2. On Thursday the financially-troubled country of Greece began selling 5 billion euros of 10-year bonds after the country promised to trim its massive budget deficit by cutting wages and spending. Greece is offering to sell the new bonds at a spread of 300 basis points more than the mid- swap rate, or a yield of 6.39. The news item was notable is it shows that even with the recent market turmoil, buyers are still willing to purchase debt of this embattled country.
3. Auto sales for the month of February came in this week, showing several interesting points: Ford (NYSE: F) passed GM in monthly sales for the first time since 1988 and Toyota's (NYSE: TM) monthly numbers are now starting to reflect the impact of its recent recall issues. Sales for Ford jumped 43 percent to 137,644 units, GM sales were up 12%, Chrysler was flat, Toyota sales were down 10.6% and Nissan (OTC: NSANY) sales jumped almost 30%.
4. American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) announced a definitive agreement for the sale of the AIA Group to Prudential plc (NYSE: PUK) for approximately $35.5 billion, including approximately $25 billion in cash, $8.5 billion in face value of equity and equity-linked securities, and $2.0 billion in face value of preferred stock of Prudential. Shares of AIG rose 4% on Monday following the news, and ended this weeks trading session about 13.5% higher.
5. Shares of TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO) surged more than 65% during the last two trading sessions this week amid news that a long-standing lawsuit against the company resulted in a federal appeals court affirming a contempt finding against Dish Network Corp (NASDAQ: DISH) and EchoStar Corp (NASDAQ: SATS). The U.S. District Court in Eastern Texas had levied contempt sanctions on Dish and EchoStar for violating a court-ordered permanent injunction to stop manufacturing and selling digital video recorders that TiVo is known for.
6. The phrase "Merger Monday" couldn't apply any better than it did this week. On that day alone, at least 7 relatively large acquisitions were announced; among some of the notables were: Millipore (NYSE: MIL) to be acquired by Merck KGaA for $107/share, OSI Pharma (Nasdaq: OSIP) received an offer from Astellas Pharma for $52/share, AIG and Prudential plc, MSCI (NYSE: MXB) buys RiskMetrics (Nasdaq: RISK) for $21.75/share.
7. Retail sales for the month of February came in mostly better-than-expected this week. Some highlights were: Target (NYSE: TGT) comps up 2.4%, Macy's (NYSE: M) comps up 3.7%, Zumiez (Nasdaq: ZUMZ) comps up 19.6%, Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) comps up 5%.
8. Shares of Medivation (Nasdaq: MDVN) tumbled more than 70% this week as said on Wednesday that the Alzheimer drug Dimebon, that it has been working on in collaboration with Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) failed to meet main goals in a late-stage clinical trial.
9. Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) raised its annual dividend 11%, from $1.09 per share to $1.21 per share. The next quarterly dividend will be paid on April 5, 2010 to shareholders of record on March 12, 2010. The ex-dividend date is March 10. The dividend yield on the new payout is a solid 2.3%. The stock was flat this week.
10. Goldman Sachs' (NYSE: GS) new 10-K filing put into writing something that investors have already known and been worried about --- bad publicity is a major risk for the company. "We may be adversely affected by increased governmental and regulatory scrutiny or negative publicity." View our full report for full details.
1. The Labor Department reported Friday that 36,000 jobs were lost in February, below the 68,000 losses that economists had expected. The unemployment rate for the month, meanwhile, remained steady at 9.7 percent. Economists had forecasted that the unemployment rate would edge up slightly to 9.8 percent. Prior to this week's number, pundits had been speculating on exactly how much recent snowstorms would be affecting the numbers, however, the Labor Department said it was unclear on just how much of an impact this had.
2. On Thursday the financially-troubled country of Greece began selling 5 billion euros of 10-year bonds after the country promised to trim its massive budget deficit by cutting wages and spending. Greece is offering to sell the new bonds at a spread of 300 basis points more than the mid- swap rate, or a yield of 6.39. The news item was notable is it shows that even with the recent market turmoil, buyers are still willing to purchase debt of this embattled country.
3. Auto sales for the month of February came in this week, showing several interesting points: Ford (NYSE: F) passed GM in monthly sales for the first time since 1988 and Toyota's (NYSE: TM) monthly numbers are now starting to reflect the impact of its recent recall issues. Sales for Ford jumped 43 percent to 137,644 units, GM sales were up 12%, Chrysler was flat, Toyota sales were down 10.6% and Nissan (OTC: NSANY) sales jumped almost 30%.
4. American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) announced a definitive agreement for the sale of the AIA Group to Prudential plc (NYSE: PUK) for approximately $35.5 billion, including approximately $25 billion in cash, $8.5 billion in face value of equity and equity-linked securities, and $2.0 billion in face value of preferred stock of Prudential. Shares of AIG rose 4% on Monday following the news, and ended this weeks trading session about 13.5% higher.
5. Shares of TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO) surged more than 65% during the last two trading sessions this week amid news that a long-standing lawsuit against the company resulted in a federal appeals court affirming a contempt finding against Dish Network Corp (NASDAQ: DISH) and EchoStar Corp (NASDAQ: SATS). The U.S. District Court in Eastern Texas had levied contempt sanctions on Dish and EchoStar for violating a court-ordered permanent injunction to stop manufacturing and selling digital video recorders that TiVo is known for.
6. The phrase "Merger Monday" couldn't apply any better than it did this week. On that day alone, at least 7 relatively large acquisitions were announced; among some of the notables were: Millipore (NYSE: MIL) to be acquired by Merck KGaA for $107/share, OSI Pharma (Nasdaq: OSIP) received an offer from Astellas Pharma for $52/share, AIG and Prudential plc, MSCI (NYSE: MXB) buys RiskMetrics (Nasdaq: RISK) for $21.75/share.
7. Retail sales for the month of February came in mostly better-than-expected this week. Some highlights were: Target (NYSE: TGT) comps up 2.4%, Macy's (NYSE: M) comps up 3.7%, Zumiez (Nasdaq: ZUMZ) comps up 19.6%, Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) comps up 5%.
8. Shares of Medivation (Nasdaq: MDVN) tumbled more than 70% this week as said on Wednesday that the Alzheimer drug Dimebon, that it has been working on in collaboration with Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) failed to meet main goals in a late-stage clinical trial.
9. Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) raised its annual dividend 11%, from $1.09 per share to $1.21 per share. The next quarterly dividend will be paid on April 5, 2010 to shareholders of record on March 12, 2010. The ex-dividend date is March 10. The dividend yield on the new payout is a solid 2.3%. The stock was flat this week.
10. Goldman Sachs' (NYSE: GS) new 10-K filing put into writing something that investors have already known and been worried about --- bad publicity is a major risk for the company. "We may be adversely affected by increased governmental and regulatory scrutiny or negative publicity." View our full report for full details.
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