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Top 10 News Items 1/9-1/13: S&P Downgrades Slew of Euro Nations; JPMorgan Q4 Sales Disappoint; Bristol-Myer's Bid for Inhibitex Heats Up Drug Sector

January 13, 2012 4:48 PM EST
Here is a recap of the top news items from this week on Wall Street:

1. S&P informed the Finance Ministers of a number of EU nations about incoming credit rating downgrades. While word of the reports was first heard early in Friday's afternoon session, the ratings were not released at 3pm ET as previously expected. France's rating was lowered by one notch, while Italy and Spain's ratings were taken down by two notches. Notably, Germany's rating was affirmed.

2. Shares of JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) traded about 3 percent lower Friday following fourth-quarter results earlier. The company reported inline earnings of 90 cents per share, but sales of $22.2 billion missed the Street's $23 billion estimate. JPMorgan traditionally kicks off the earnings season for the financial sector. Next week Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and Citi (NYSE: C) will report Tuesday, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), PNC (NYSE: PNC), US Bancorp (NYSE: USB) and State Street (NYSE: STT) will report Wednesday. On Thursday, BofA (NYSE: BAC), BB&T (NYSE: BBT) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) will report.

3. The Hep-C drug sector was extremely hot this week following news Bristol-Myers (NYSE: BMY) has offered to acquire Inhibitex (Nasdaq: INHX) for $26/share, or about $2.5 billion. The stock surged 140 percent on Monday. Elsewhere, Achillion (Nasdaq: ACHN) shares jumped nearly 50 percent and shares of Idenix (Nasdaq: IDIX) were up 83 percent.

4. WebMD (Nasdaq: WBMD) shares slumped more than 28 percent on Tuesday following news its CEO Wayne Gattinella resigned. The company also said it expects FY12 sales to be down 2-8 percent compared to FY11.

5. Juniper Networks (Nasdaq: JNPR) lowered its fourth-quarter sales and EPS guidance on Monday evening. Although the stock rose more than 5 percent during Monday's session, gains were not given up Tuesday despite the concerning outlook. The outlook moved from $1.16-$1.22 billion to $1.11-$1.12 billion in sales, EPS moved from 32-36 cents to 26-28 cents.

6. A Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) exec, speaking at CES on Tuesday, warned PC sales were likely worse than expected during the fourth quarter as flooding in Thailand probably hurt PC shipments more than forecast. The comment was met with seemingly no reaction on the Street. Although several analysts adjusted expectations on Microsoft, shares held up throughout the week.

7. Reports EU regulators have "nixed" the NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX), Deutsche Boerse deal had each company issuing releases: "have received no formal decision from the EU yet." Shares of NYSE Euronext rose 4.6 percent on Tuesday.

8. Shares of lululemon (Nasdaq: LULU) jumped 12 percent on Tuesday after the company raised its fourth-quarter sales and earnings outlook. EPS move from 40-42 cents to 47-49 cents, vs. the consensus of 42 cents. Sales move from $327-$332 million to $358-$363 million, which compares to the Street estimate of $334.5 million. Comps are expected to be up in the low-to-mid twenties percent range.

9. Shares of Questcor (Nasdaq: QCOR) tumbled nearly 15 percent on Wednesday as traders anticipated a negative note from StreetSweeper.org. The company was defended at Jefferies that day, and at Oppenheimer the next day.

10. Alcoa (NYSE: AA) kicked off the earnings season on Monday. The company reported a fourth-quarter loss of 3 cents per share, a penny worse than the Street estimate. Sales came in at $5.99 billion.


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