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| Currency | US Dollar |
|---|---|
| British Pound to US Dollar | 1.633720 |
| Euro to US Dollar | 1.398406 |
| Japanese Yen to US Dollar | 0.010414 |
| Canadian Dollar to US Dollar | 0.861846 |
Stocks climbed today as investors parked worries about the mortgage industry, bet on technology and celebrated some big deals and lower energy prices.
The Dow Jones industrials finished the day up 42 points, 0.3%, to nearly 12,319. The Nasdaq Composite added nearly 15 points, 0.6%, to 2,402, and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index jumped 3.8 points, 0.3%, to just under 1,407.
It was the third straight day of gains for the Dow and the S&P 500. The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq have regained about a third of the big losses they suffered in the blow-off that erupted on Feb. 27. But the gains stalled when the S&P 500 hit 1,409, just below its Friday peak, and prompted some selling.
Tomorrow Goldman Sachs (GS, news, msgs) starts a week of big investment bank earnings. Lehman Bros. (LEH, news, msgs) reports on Wednesday, and Bear Stearns (BSC, news, msgs) reports Thursday. All will be scrutinized for clues on the size of the housing finance crisis.
Tech contributed to the overall gains for the market. Chip giant Intel (INTC, news, msgs) led the Dow with a 2% gain to $19.48, followed by Boeing (BA, news, msgs), up 1.9% to $91.20, and AT&T (T, news, msgs), which added 1.4% to $37.06. Nineteen of the 30 stocks in the index were higher. The laggard was Home Depot (HD, news, msgs), down 1.3% from Friday to $38.17.
Akamai Technologies (AKAM, news, msgs), Yahoo (YHOO, news, msgs) and Juniper Networks (JNPR, news, msgs) were among the big winners among stocks in the Nasdaq-100 Index ($NDX.X).
Thirteen of the 18 stocks in the Philadelphia Semiconductors Index ($SOX.X) were higher.
But Texas Instruments (TXN, news, msgs) shares were 2% lower to $31.90 in after-hours trading and may pressure the sector tomorrow.
The company narrowed its first-quarter earnings and revenue guidance. TI now expects to earn between 29 cents and 33 cents in the quarter, flat from a year ago. Revenue should be $3.07 billion to $3.22 billion. It had forecast $3.01 billion to $3.28 billion. The Wall Street consensus estimate is $3.15 billion in revenue and 31 cents in earnings.
Meanwhile, 320 stocks in the S&P 500 were higher, led by Dollar General (DG, news, msgs), up nearly 26% to $21.07 after accepting a $6.8 billion buyout offer from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. Rival Family Dollar Stores (FDO, news, msgs) was up 6.1% to $30.42.
Crude oil fell 1.9% to $58.91, down $1.14 from Friday. The drop was caused by the prospect of warmer weather and the desire of many traders to limit their exposure ahead of Thursday's meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Energy stocks were modestly lower. ExxonMobil (XOM, news, msgs) was off slightly at $70.87. Transocean (RIG, news, msgs) was down 1.2% to $76.62. Halliburton (HAL, news, msgs), which announced over the weekend that its CEO plans to work out of Dubai, was up 17 cents to $32.19.
- Video: Is now the time to bail out of brokerage stocks?
| Mon. | Fri. | Chg. | Month chg. | YTD chg. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crude oil (NYMEX) (per barrel) | $58.91 | $60.05 | -$1.14 | -4.66% | -3.51% |
| Heating oil (per gallon) | $1.6823 | $1.7122 | -$0.0299 | -5.51% | 5.28% |
| Natural gas (per million BTU) | $6.9120 | $7.0830 | -$0.1710 | -5.32% | 9.73% |
| Unleaded gasoline (per gallon) | $1.9105 | $1.9021 | $0.0084 | 3.40% | 19.25% |
Builders suffer from subprime woes
Concerns over the subprime mortgage business have created a "general sense of nervousness" for the market, Art Cashin of UBS Financial Services told CNBC. "There is a sense that it could begin to spill over."The subprime mortgage crisis has suffocated New Century, which has had to use its cash to buy back mortgage loans financed by investment banks including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup (C, news, msgs). New Century has specialized in selling mortgages to high-risk buyers, but rising interest rates and falling home prices have caused a jump in defaults on those mortgages.
The mortgage crisis also clobbered home building stocks today. The Philadelphia Housing Sector Index ($HGX.X) was 2.2% this afternoon. The three of the four-worst performing stocks in the S&P 500 were builders: D.R. Horton (DHI, news, msgs), down 5.1%; Lennar (LEN, news, msgs), down 4.9%; and Pulte Homes (PHM, news, msgs), down 4.8%. Centex (CTX, news, msgs) and KB Home (KBH, news, msgs) were the fifth- and sixth-worst S&P stock, down more than 3% each.
Earlier last week, New Century said it was talking with lenders about refinancing, but on Friday, the company said it had stopped accepting loan applications because some backers were refusing to provide financing.
UBS downgraded the company today, saying "if New Century gets temporary relief through a capital infusion, we believe it is only likely to delay, rather than solve its liquidity issues."
Shares of the company have plummeted 90% so far this year.
New Century is the second-biggest lender to people with risky credit, behind Countrywide Financial (CFC, news, msgs), whose shares have fallen 15% this year. Countrywide was the seventh-worst S&P performer this afternoon, down 2.7% to $35.14.
Countrywide said today that the volume of subprime loans it made fell in February. The company has tightened its lending criteria after a rise in defaults.
New Century's woes have beaten up many similar mortgage real estate investment trusts. These are vehicles that invest almost exclusively in mortgages rather than directly in the property. Sixteen of 27 mortgage REITS tracked by MSN Money were lower today.
Big drug deal for Schering-Plough
Schering-Plough (SGP, news, msgs) said it will buy Organon BioSciences from Dutch company Akzo Nobel (AKZOY, news, msgs) for $14.4 billion in cash. Akzo had originally planned to spin Organon off in an initial public offering of up to 30% of the company."It's a day of celebration for Akzo shareholders," Tom Muller, an analyst at Theodoor Gilissen in Amsterdam, told Bloomberg News. Another analyst, SNS Securities' Danny van Doesburg, told MarketWatch that the unit sold for much more than he had expected.
More from MSN Money
Akzo shares jumped 16.5%, to $70.83 this afternoon. Schering-Plough shares were 10 cents higher to $23.95.
A $2.6 billion health-care merger
Also in the health sector, health-care company UnitedHealth Group (UNH, news, msgs) is acquiring Sierra Health Services (SIE, news, msgs) for $2.6 billion, or $43.50 per Sierra share.UnitedHealth said the deal should close by the end of the year and expects it will add 4 cents per share in profit in the first year after it closes. Sierra Health posted a profit of $140.5 million in fiscal 2006.
UnitedHealth also announced it would buy back between $4 billion and $4.5 billion worth of stock this year.
Investors liked the deal. UnitedHealth shares were up 0.5% to $53.27 this afternoon, while Sierra shares were up nearly 15.8% to $41.57.
Halliburton's new headquarters
Oil-services giant Halliburton says the bulk of its growth in the future will come from Africa, the Middle East and Asia. So, the company is moving its headquarters to Dubai from Houston."Growing our business here will bring more balance to Halliburton's overall portfolio," CEO David Lesar said in a statement. "This is a market that is more heavily weighted toward oil exploration and production opportunities." Wall Street seemed to agree, given the stock's gain this afternoon.
The company has been looking to expand more business outside North America, which generated 55% of the company's profit last quarter.
As Halliburton gets ready to relocate the boss in Dubai, a new oil exchange is about to launched there as well. The Dubai Mercantile Exchange is meant to bridge the time gap between oil markets in the Far East and London.
Vice President Dick Cheney was Halliburton's CEO before agreeing to be President Bush's running mate in 2000.
- Video: What oil trading in Dubai could mean
| Mon. | Fri. | Chg. | Month chg. | YTD chg. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Treasurys | |||||
| 13-week Treasury bill | 4.950% | 4.950% | 0.000 | -1.79% | 1.33% |
| 5-year Treasury note yield | 4.501% | 4.547% | -0.046 | -0.04% | -4.25% |
| 10-year Treasury note yield | 4.553% | 4.589% | -0.036 | 0.07% | -3.33% |
| 30-year Treasury bond yield | 4.692% | 4.723% | -0.031 | 0.49% | -2.62% |
| Currencies | |||||
| U.S. Dollar Index | 83.85 | 84.21 | -0.36 | 0.42% | 0.50% |
| British pound in dollars | $1.933 | $1.938 | -0.004 | -1.55% | -1.33% |
| Dollar in British pounds | £0.517 | £0.516 | 0.001 | 1.57% | 1.35% |
| Euro in dollars | 1.320 | 1.315 | 0.005 | -0.28% | -0.01% |
| Dollar in euros | € 0.7577 | € 0.7606 | -0.003 | 0.28% | 0.01% |
| Dollar in yen | ¥117.65 | ¥118.27 | -0.62 | -0.76% | -1.15% |
| Commodities | |||||
| Gold | $650.30 | $652.00 | -$1.70 | -3.30% | 1.93% |
| Copper | $2.8490 | $2.7800 | $0.07 | 3.52% | -0.77% |
| Silver | $13.0850 | $12.9700 | $0.12 | -8.08% | 1.16% |
| Crude oil (NYMEX) (per barrel) | $58.91 | $60.05 | -$1.14 | -4.66% | -3.51% |
SEC charges former Nortel execs
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed civil fraud charges against four former executives of telecom equipment maker Nortel Networks (NT, news, msgs). The SEC accuses former CEO and Chief Financial Officer Frank Dunn, as well as ex-execs Douglas Betty, Michael Gollogly and MaryAnne Pahapill, of accounting fraud.The SEC's suit says shareholders lost "billions of dollars" as a result of fraudulent actions by the former executives between September 2000 and January 2004. Nortel was up slightly today to $28.17.
Racing guru to buy Aston Martin
Ford Motor (F, news, msgs) has confirmed the sale of its famous Aston Martin sports-car line to a group of investors led by auto-racing champion David Richards. The sale will raise cash for Ford, which lost more than $12 billion last year.- Video: Aston Martin's new owner
Richards is backed by Kuwaiti investment companies Adeem Investment and Investment Dar.
Ford, which has been looking for a buyer for months, is expected to keep a 15% stake in the company. Ford bought Aston Martin, best-known for its appearances in James Bond movies, in 1987. Ford shares fell 1.4% to $7.82.
By Elizabeth Strott and Charley Blaine
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