Oppenheimer Cuts More Financials (C)(JPM)(WB)(MER)(UBS)
A day after taking down its earnings forecasts for Citigroup (C), JP Morgan (JPM), and Wachovia (WB), Oppenheimer has cut its first quarter numbers on Merrill Lynch (MER) and UBS (UBS).
According to Reuters, MER and UBS "may suffer respective first-quarter write-downs of $6.03 billion and $11.06 billion, according to Oppenheimer & Co analyst Meredith Whitney."
ORCL gapping down on a shortfall on revenue. IBM still my favorite among Big Cap tech.
Shares short in Microsoft (MSFT) spiked up 7.4 million to 123.1 million. Short interest in Intel (INTC) jumped 11.7 million to 75.8 milion. The short interest in Cisco (CSCO) moved higher by 24.4 million to 73.1 million. Shares short in Oracle (ORCL) increased by 1.6 million to 38.9 million. Sonus short interest was up 9.3 million to 41.3 million. Sun's (JAVA) short interest was up 6.1 million to 23.6 million.
Reuters reports that the Meriwether hedge fund is down 28% so far this year.
Reuters writes that the buyers of Clear Channel (CCU) have sued banks to close the $19 billion deal.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Paulson want the Fed to have more power over securities firms.
The Wall Street Journa reports that Nokia (NOK) is making a number of moves to take handset share in the US.
The New York Times writes that home equity loans may be the next round in the credit crisis.
The New York Times reports that oil moved up sharply to $106 a barrel.
Bloomberg writes that taxpayers may be liable for billions of dollars from Fed and Treasury efforts to help financial firms.
ECB chief warns worst may be yet to come-Telegraph
Jean-Claude Trichet, the European Central Bank chief, ‘wouldn't say the worst is behind us.' Speaking to European Union lawmakers, Trichet warned that global markets are in the middle of a major correction, and could find ‘ourselves faced with the same problems that we encountered' during the first global oil shock if ‘we don't learn the lessons of the past.' Regarding U.S. subprime losses, Trichet stressed the importance of full transparency by financial institutions
(MarketWatch) — Google Inc. has had its second straight month of disappointing growth in "paid clicks," a key metric that reflects the overall health of the company, according to data released Wednesday by research firm comScore Inc. — Could add additional downward pressure to GOOG today, its already gapped down.
GOOG target lowered to $600 from $700, reit Buy@THNK
ThinkEquity lowered their target to reflect modestly slower than previously expected growth for the company in the U.S. However, the firm believes Google is oversold, and their channel checks suggest the company should have a solid quarter, beating some "buy side" expectations
GOOG target lowered to $500 from $615, maintain Hold@STFG
Stanford lowered their target after comScore data revealed that February paid clicks grew 3% in February, down from 25% growth in Q4. In addition, the firm's checks indicated that online marketers are concerned that a recession could substantially reduce U.S. Internet ad spending
GOOG: See great opportunity in the shares, maintain Overweight@TWPT
After comScore reported that Google's total clicks were up 24% year over-year in January but the company's paid clicks were up just 3.1%, Thomas Weisel believes investors are focusing on comScore data, while Google continues to gain market share and expand in other online growth categories. The firm thinks Google is making gains in emerging markets while trading at a historically low EBITDA multiple.
Booming crop prices means good times for irrigation equipment maker Lindsay-IBD
Lindsay Corp.