Traders-Blog.com

Stocks plunged sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average down over 300 points for its second worst day of the year, as anxiety about shaky credit markets and the troubled housing sector swept Wall Street. The wave of worry about housing and credit markets sent the Dow industrials tumbling.

Today, the Dow closed down 311.50 or 2.26% to 13,473.57, the broader S&P 500 closed down 35.43 or 2.33% to 1,482.66, while the tech-laden Nasdaq closed down 48.83 or 1.84% to 2,599.34.

Market breadth was negative on heavier than normal volume. Losers topped winners 10 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange on volume of 2.79 billion shares. Decliners beat advancers 5 to 1 on the Nasdaq on volume of 3.45 billion shares.

The uncertainty that unnerved investors came on two fronts: tougher times for the credit markets and barrage of bad news for housing. The tighter credit is likely to slow the buyout boom that’s helped prop up stock prices. And it could raise the cost of borrowing for companies, hurting corporate earnings.

In other economic news, orders for big-ticket items rose less than expected in June. Jobless claims also fell last week. While this week looks to be a big loser for the market, the outlook beyond that may not be so dreary. Some economist feel that the sell off today was just a blip in the latest leg of the bull market.

Shares of Exxon closed down $4.56 or 5.5% to $88.23, after posting a decline in quarterly profits. It reported over $10 billion in quarterly profit Thursday as higher gasoline prices helped offset a decline in revenue from natural gas.

Stock of Ford Motors closed up $0.12 to $8.09, after reporting unexpected profit in the second quarter, helped by reduced losses in its North American operations.

Shares of Apple closed up $8.74 or 6% to $146.00, after the company reported results that beat market estimates.

Crude prices finished lower with U.S. light crude for September down 93 cents to $74.95 a barrel.

All the best,
Manuel Jesus-Backus
The Portfolio Crafter

Please do your own research, and verify all information before acting on it. This summary of Cramer’s picks is not intended to replace watching the shows, where his comments about the stocks often include advice about entry and exit points.

Jim Cramer named PepsiCo (PEP) as one stock to own during this market decline on Tuesday’s show. Texas Instruments (TXN) is today’s tech stock pick.

Buy
Accenture (ACN) (Lightning Round)
Bank of America (BAC) (Lightning Round)
Bank of America (BAC) (mentioned on Stop Trading!)
Brookfield Asset Management (BAM) (Lightning Round)
Caterpillar (CAT) (”$80-to-$120″) (Lightning Round)
Celgene (CELG) (Lightning Round)
Citi (C) (mentioned on Stop Trading!)
Citigroup (C) (Lightning Round)
Dell (DELL) (Mad Money)
Dominos Pizza (DPZ) (”buy under $20″) (Lightning Round)
Ford Motor (F) (”don’t buy the common”) (Lightning Round)
Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) (Lightning Round)
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) (Mad Money)
Hologic (HOLX) (Lightning Round)
Leucadia National (LUK) (Lightning Round)
Merck (MRK) (mentioned on Stop Trading!)
Nike (NKE) (Lightning Round)
Nokia (NOK) (Lightning Round)
Riverbed Technology (RVBD) (”risky, invest don’t trade”) (Mad Money)
Schlumberger (SLB) (Lightning Round)
Tata Motors (TTM) (Lightning Round)
Terex (TEX) (”$80-to-$120″) (Lightning Round)
Trinity Industries (TRN) (Lightning Round)
Waste Services (WSII) (CEO on Mad Money)

Sell
Baker Hughes (BHI) (Lightning Round)
Bear Stearns (BSC) (mentioned on Stop Trading!)
Human Genome Sciences (HGSI) (Lightning Round)
ING (ING) (Lightning Round)
Joy Global (JOYG) (Lightning Round)
PMorgan (JPM) (mentioned on Stop Trading!)
Spartan Motors (SPAR) (Lightning Round)
Tesoro (TSO) (Lightning Round)

* Click here and receive a free market forecast using VantagePoint software.
* Click here for 2 free books that teach you how to trade the E-mini’s.
* Click here for free cassette “17 Rules for Successful Futures Trading.”

Stock picks by each of the traders on the latest episode of “Fast Money.” (Fast Money Recaps at Online Traders’ Forum)

Buy
Apple (AAPL) (Bolling)
Baidu.com (BIDU) (Najarian)
Bristol Myers (BMY) (Najarian)
Colgate-Palmolive (CL) (Macke)
Colgate-Palmolive (CL) (Najarian)
ConocoPhillips (COP) (Najarian)
Consumer Staples SPDR (XLP) (Bolling)
Costco (COST) (Macke)
DaimlerChrysler (DCX) (Najarian)
Flour (FLR) (Adami)
Ford (F) (Adami)
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) (Adami)
Harley Davidson (HOG) (Adami)
Jacobs Engineering (JEC) (Adami)
McAfee (MFE) (Macke)
McDonald’s (MCD) (Bolling)
McDonald’s (MCD) (Macke)
MEMC Electronics (WFR) (Bolling)
MEMC Electronics (WFR) (Najarian)
Merck (MRK) (Bolling)
Morton’s (MRT) (Bolling)
Morton’s (MRT) (Macke)
Nintendo (NTDOY.PK) (Bolling)
Nintendo (NTDOY.PK) (Macke)
Shaw Group (SGR) (Adami)
SunPower (SPWR) (Najarian)
Symantec (SYMC) (Macke)
Titanium Metals (TIE) (Bolling)
Titanium Metals (TIE) (Najarian)

Sell
“Cars” (Bolling)
“Homebuilders” (Bolling)
Cemex (CX) (Adami)
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) (Bolling)
Kansas Southern (KSU) (Najarian)
Kohl’s (KSS) (Macke)
Norfolk Southern (NSC) (Adami)
Norfolk Southern (NSC) (Najarian)
SunPower (SPWR) (Bolling)
Union Pacific (UNP) (Najarian)

* Click here and receive a free market forecast using VantagePoint software.
* Click here for 2 free books that teach you how to trade the E-mini’s.
* Click here for free cassette “17 Rules for Successful Futures Trading.”

Stocks bounced back from the steepest drop in four months to close ahead after a spike in oil prices fueled the energy sector. Worries about deal-financing added more volatility into a market that had advanced early on after optimistic profit reports from Boeing and Amazon.com Inc. Stocks finished higher as investors shrugged off credit and housing market jitters.

Today, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 68.12 or 0.50% to 13,785.07, the broader S&P 500 closed up 6.03 or 0.40% to 1,518.09, and the tech-laden Nasdaq closed up 8.31 or 0.31% to 2,648.17.

Market breadth was negative. Losers beat winners by 19 to 13 on the New York Stock Exchange on volume of 2 billion shares. Decliners topped advancers on the Nasdaq by 8 to 7 on volume of 2.5 billion shares

While the market was buoyant initially, investors’ enthusiasm cooled after the National Association of Realtors said that the pace existing home sales fell more than expected in June. Additionally, news that private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management was experiencing difficulties in tapping the debt market for $20 billion needed for the purchase of Chrysler fanned credit market fears, also pressuring stocks.

In other economic news, the Fed issued its so-called Beige Book, which measures economic conditions around the country, revealing modest economic growth in the United States, but further declines in home building and real estate in most regions.

Stock of Boeing closed up $3.57 or 3% to $107.37, after posting better than expected results. It reported quarterly profit of $1.1 billion, compared with a loss of $160 million in the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose 14% to $17 billion, chiefly driven by higher plane deliveries.

Shares of ConocoPhillip closed up $2.30 to $84.63, despite reporting lower results that were better than expected. Net income in the quarter fell to $301 million, from $5.19 billion last year.

Shares of Colgate-Palmolive closed up $1.16 to $69.41, after posting earnings that topped estimates, driven by improvements from its ongoing restructuring plan and strong sales growth. Second-quarter profit was $415.8 million, compared with $283.6 million a year earlier.

Stock of Apple closed up $2.74 to $137.63, in anticipation of the second quarter report that is set for after the market closed today.

U.S. light crude soared $2.32 to $75.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude-oil futures were supported by a decline in supplies, after the Energy Department reported crude supplies fell for a third week in a row.

All the best,
Manuel Jesus-Backus
The Portfolio Crafter

Please do your own research, and verify all information before acting on it. This summary of Cramer’s picks is not intended to replace watching the shows, where his comments about the stocks often include advice about entry and exit points.

Jim Cramer named PepsiCo (PEP) as one stock to own during this market decline on Tuesday’s show. Texas Instruments (TXN) is today’s tech stock pick.

Buy
Apple (AAPL) (”buy on pullback”) (mentioned on Stop Trading!)
Apple (AAPL) (Lightning Round)
Celgene (CELG) (Lightning Round)
Ciena (CIEN) (Mad Money)
Cisco Systems (CSCO) (Mad Money)
CV Therapeutics (CVTX) (Lightning Round)
Discovery (DISCA) (”goes to $27″) (Lightning Round)
Juniper Networks (JNPR) (Mad Money)
Nastech Pharmaceutical (NSTK) (Lightning Round)
PepsiCo (PEP) (CEO on Mad Money)
Texas Instruments (TXN) (Mad Money)
Transocean (RIG) (mentioned on Stop Trading!)

Sell
“Banks” (Mad Money)
“Brokers” (Mad Money)
“Financials” (Mad Money)
MasterCard (MA) (Lightning Round)
Men’s Wearhouse (MW) (Mad Money)
Navteq (NVT) (Lightning Round)
Six Flags (SIX) (Mad Money)
Trump Entertainment Resorts (TRMP) (Lightning Round)

* Click here and receive a free market forecast using VantagePoint software.
* Click here for 2 free books that teach you how to trade the E-mini’s.
* Click here for free cassette “17 Rules for Successful Futures Trading.”

Stock picks by each of the traders on the latest episode of “Fast Money.” (Fast Money Recaps at Online Traders’ Forum)

Buy
“Metals” (Bolling)
America Movil (AMX) (Najarian)
American Express (AXP) (Adami)
Amylin (AMLN) (Najarian)
Apple (AAPL) (Bolling)
AT&T (T) (Bolling)
Barr Pharma (BRL) (Najarian)
Biogen (BIIB) (Adami)
Biogen (BIIB) (Najarian)
Blue Nile (NILE) (”buy on dip”) (Macke)
Corn Products (CPO) (Bolling)
Costco (COST) (Macke)
FedEx (FDX) (Macke)
Goldman Sachs (GS) (Adami)
Goldman Sachs (GS) (Bolling)
Goldman Sachs (GS) (Macke)
Google (GOOG) (Bolling)
Honeywell (HON) (Bolling)
IBM (IBM) (Bolling)
JetBlue (JBLU) (Adami)
JetBlue (JBLU) (Bolling)
JetBlue (JBLU) (Najarian)
MasterCard (MA) (Adami)
McDonald’s (MCD) (Adami)
Netflix (XLF) (Bolling)
Nokia (NOK) (Najarian)
Oil Services HOLDRs (OIH) (Bolling)
Oil Services HOLDRs (OIH) (Najarian)
Pepsico (PEP) (Macke)
Sirius Satellite (SIRI) (Macke)
Teva (TEVA) (Najarian)
Vodafone (VOD) (Adami)

Sell
“Financials” (Najarian)
Apple (AAPL) (Macke)
Baidu.com (BIDU) (Najarian)
Dillards (DDS) (Macke)
iShares Russell 2000 Index (IWM) (Najarian)
JetBlue (JBLU) (Macke)
Lockheed Martin (LMT) (Adami)
Wendy’s (WEN) (Macke)

* Click here and receive a free market forecast using VantagePoint software.
* Click here for 2 free books that teach you how to trade the E-mini’s.
* Click here for free cassette “17 Rules for Successful Futures Trading.”

Stocks finished sharply lower, sending the Dow industrials to their biggest single-day drop since March, after Countrywide Financial warned that problems are spreading beyond the sub-prime sector, while earnings at DuPont and American Express disappointed. Worries about a prolonged housing slump and concerns over liquidity in the credit markets and its impact on pending deals sent investors scurring.

Today, the 30-share Dow Jones industrial average closed down 228.01or 1.62% to 13,715.41, the broader S&P closed down 30.53 or 1.98% to 1511.04, and the tech-fueled Nasdaq sank 50.72 or 1.89% to 2639.86.

Market breadth was negative on higher than average volume. Decliners beat advancers nearly 3 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange on volume of 1.98 billion shares. Losers beat winners on the Nasdaq 5 to 1 on volume of 2.51 billion shares.

A combination of a prolonged housing slump, concerns over liquidity and disappointing earnings report sent the markets South. The recent woes in the sub-prime mortgage market were spilling over to junk bonds and credit markets are facing a “sudden liquidity crisis.”

Shares of Texas Instruments closed down $1.84 or 5% to $36.34, after reporting lower quarterly profit and revenue as weak demand for calculators outweighed improving sales of advanced phones that use its wireless chips. Its profit fell to $614 million, from $739 million a year earlier. Revenue fell to $3.42 billion from $3.7 billion.

Stock of Countrywide closed down $4.07 or 10% to $29.99, after a dismal outlook by the CEO about the state of the housing market, renewed recent fears about both the housing and mortgage sector. Its second-quarter profit sank 33% to $485 million, from $722 million a year earlier.

Shares of DuPont declined on disappointing earnings reports. Its profit declined marginally to $972 million, from $975 million a year earlier. Excluding items, earnings rose to $1.04 a share from $1.01 a share, against the expected $1.06. Quarterly sales increased to $7.88 billion from $7.44 billion.

Stock of American Express closed down $3.64 or 5% to $61.02, despite reporting better than expected profits. However, the disappointing revenue number sent the shares lower. Its second quarter profit rose to $1.057 billion, from $945 million a year earlier.

Shares of Apple closed down $8.79 or 6% to $134.91, after AT&T said in its quarterly earnings report that it activated far fewer iPhones during the first two days the device was available than analysts had anticipated.

Oil prices fell with U.S. light crude down $1.33 to $73.56 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Comments from OPEC and expectations of rising gasoline supplies weighed on sentiment.

All the best,
Manuel Jesus-Backus
The Portfolio Crafter

Please do your own research, and verify all information before acting on it. This summary of Cramer’s picks is not intended to replace watching the shows, where his comments about the stocks often include advice about entry and exit points.

This week, Cramer will pick his favorite tech stocks. Cramer named SanDisk (SNDK) as his tech winner on Monday’s show.

Buy
Altria (MO) (Lightning Round)
Arch Coal (ACI) (CEO on Mad Money)
AT&T (T) (”goes to $42 with a buyback”) (Lightning Round)
Brookfield Asset Management (BAM) (Lightning Round)
CIT (CIT) (mentioned on Stop Trading!)
Clorox (CLX) (mentioned on Stop Trading!)
Colgate (CL) (mentioned on Stop Trading!)
Consolidated Edison (ED) (Lightning Round)
First Solar (FSLR) (”buy on pullback”) (Lightning Round)
Flotek Industries (FTK) (Lightning Round)
Frontline (FRO) (Mad Money)
General Maritime (GMR) (Mad Money)
GlobalSantaFe (GSF) (Lightning Round)
Goldman Sachs (GS) (Lightning Round)
OceanFreight (OCNF) (Mad Money)
Oracle (ORCL) (Lightning Round)
Procter & Gamble (PG) (mentioned on Stop Trading!)
Reliance Steel (RS) (Lightning Round)
SanDisk (SNDK) (Mad Money)
Schlumberger (SLB) (Lightning Round)
Seaspan (SSW) (Mad Money)
Star Maritime (SEA) (Mad Money)
Transocean (RIG) (Lightning Round)
Valmont Industries (VMI) (Lightning Round)

Sell
Halliburton (HAL) (Lightning Round)
Hercules Offshore (HERO) (Lightning Round)
Symantec (SYMC) (Lightning Round)

* Click here and receive a free market forecast using VantagePoint software.
* Click here for 2 free books that teach you how to trade the E-mini’s.
* Click here for free cassette “17 Rules for Successful Futures Trading.”

Stock picks by each of the traders on the latest episode of “Fast Money.” (Fast Money Recaps at Online Traders’ Forum)

Buy
“Metals” (Bolling)
3M (MMM) (Najarian)
American Express (AXP) (Adami)
Amylin Pharma (AMLN) (Najarian)
BP (BP) (Bolling)
Cablevision (CVC) (Bolling)
cDonald’s (MCD) (Macke)
Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) (Najarian)
Clorox (CLX) (Adami)
Clorox (CLX) (Najarian)
Clorox (CVX) (Bolling)
ConocoPhillips (COP) (Bolling)
Dell (DELL) (Macke)
Diamond Offshore (DO) (Najarian)
Ecostar (DISH) (Bolling)
EMC (EMC) (Adami)
FedEx (FDX) (Macke)
Freeport McMoran (FCX) (Adami)
Freeport McMoran (FCX) (Bolling)
Google (GOOG) (Bolling)
Halliburton (HAL) (Adami)
Halliburton (HAL) (Bolling)
Hasbro (HAS) (Adami)
Hasbro (HAS) (Macke)
Hasbro (HAS) (Najarian)
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) (Macke)
IBM (IBM) (Bolling)
Intel (INTC) (Macke)
Jacobs Engineering (JEC) (Adami)
Lexmark (LXK) (Najarian)
Loews Corp (LTR) (Bolling)
MasterCard (MA) (Adami)
Merck (MRK) (Bolling)
Microsoft (MSFT) (Macke)
Nabors (NBR) (Najarian)
Nintendo (NTDOY.PK) (Bolling)
Nintendo (NTDOY.PK) (Macke)
Rowan (RDC) (Najarian)
Sterlite Industries (SLT) (Najarian)
Suncor (SU) (Bolling)
Suntech (STP) (Najarian)
Target (TGT) (Macke)
Texas Instruments (TXN) (Adami)
Texas Instruments (TXN) (Bolling)
United Microelectronics (UMC) (Najarian)

Sell
“Airlines” (Bolling)
“Financials” (Bolling)
“Financials” (Macke)
“Financials” (Najarian)
“Homebuilders” (Bolling)
“Homebuilders” (Bolling)
Amazon (AMZN) (Bolling)
Amazon (AMZN) (Macke)
Clorox (CLX) (Macke)
Merck (MRK) (Adami)
Merck (MRK) (Najarian)
Netflix (NFLX) (Adami)
Netflix (NFLX) (Bolling)
Netflix (NFLX) (Najarian)
NutriSystem (NTRI) (Adami)
Texas Instruments (TXN) (Najarian)
Wal-Mart (WMT) (Macke)

* Click here and receive a free market forecast using VantagePoint software.
* Click here for 2 free books that teach you how to trade the E-mini’s.
* Click here for free cassette “17 Rules for Successful Futures Trading.”

Stocks closed higher, bouncing back from Friday’s decline, on above-forecast results from Schering-Plough Corp. and Merck & Co. and merger news in the financial, oil-drilling and equipment-rental sectors. The acquisition activity reflects liquidity, which is findings it way into the stock market through private equity and strong levels of corporate cash.

Today, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 92.34 or 0.67% to 13,943.42, the broader S&P 500 closed up 7.47 or 0.49% to 1,541.57, while the tech-fueled Nasdaq closed up 2.98 or 0.11% to 2,690.58.

Market breadth was positive. Decliners barely beat advancers by 16 to 15 on the New York Stock Exchange on volume of 1.52 billion shares. Losers edged out winners on the Nasdaq by 16 to 13 on volume of 2.07 billion shares.

Experts opine that the recent volatility would not disappear anytime soon, or at least until Wall Street returns from summer vacation in September.

Merger of offshore drilling firms Transocean and GlobalSantaF will give the companies a combined market capitalization of about $48 billion. Transocean Inc., would buy GlobalSantaFe Corp. for nearly $18 billion, adding shallow-water drilling rigs to its deepwater fleet. The deal includes stock, as well as pay-out to shareholders of both companies totaling $15 billion.

Stock of United Rentals closed up $0.68 or 2% to $33.05, after Cerberus Capital Management also announced a takeover deal for $4 billion in cash, plus the assumption of $2.6 billion in cash. This is a 6.6% increase on its share prices of Friday.

Shares of Merck closed up $3.97 or 7.8% to $52.99, after the company reported a 12% increase in profits and raised its 2007 earnings forecast. Its second-quarter net income rose to $1.68 billion, from $1.5 billion a year earlier. This includes setting aside another $210 million for legal fees associated with litigation involving the company’s Vioxx arthritis drug.

Barclays has sweetened its takeover offer for ABN Amro to $93 billion. This however, is still short of the bid from a rival group led by Royal Bank of Scotland. Either offer for ABN would be biggest ever bank takeover.

Oil prices fell sharply, as U.S. light crude for September lost 90 cents to $74.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

All the best,
Manuel Jesus-Backus
The Portfolio Crafter