Market briefing---Bob (fast)
Halliburton---Peter (slow)
NYSE---Deb (fast)
>> welcome to “world financial report.” i’m bob bowdon. good news and bad news today for halliburton. the company reports progress in solving asbestos-related clamings, but halliburton’s work in iraq continues to raise questions for the company and the white house. peter cook joins us from washington with the latest “bloomberg on the markets” the halliburton story. peter?
>> analysts attribute that in part to the news on asbestos. the company saying today almost all the claimants suing over asbestos exposure approved the plan to restructure the plan involved in the litigation. that vote should help clear the way for a $4.2 billion settlement and the news at morgan stanley to upgrade halliburton to overweight from equal weight. on iraq, the company continues to face criticism, however, for the contracts, criticism that has political implications for the white house as well. on thursday, the pentagon aannounced an investigation into whether the halliburton subsidiary overcharged the military by as much as $61 billion. k.b.r.’s delivered per gallon price was $2.27, including transportation. the defense auditing agency compared wit a contract for fuel deliveries from turkey at $1.18 a gallon. according to a pentagon official familiar with the probe, a wider investigation into halliburton’s existing $5 billion -- $5 billion in iraqi contracts, much of which is retied to rebuilding the iraqi infrastructure also underway. those contracts could eventually be worth $15 billion. the company saying it welcomes the government’s review with president and c.e.o. david lazar saying in a statement from the company “we will work with government agencies to establish that our contracts are not only good for the united states, but the company is the best and most qualified contractor to perform these difficult and dangerous tasks.” halliburton, of course, the former employer of vice president dick cheney and the company is a mayor republican campaign contributor. at the white house this afternoon t president was asked if the controversy will convince him to distance himself from halliburton.
>> i expect anybody doing business with the united states government to be transparent and to give the taxpayers a good return on their money. that’s what i expect. if anybody sover charging the government, we expect them to repay that money.
>> democrats are seizing on the controversy. democratic presidential candidate howard dean thursday accused the president of standing by as campaign contributors continue to overcharge american taxpayers. bob, several other democratic candidates had similar comments. back to you.
>> well, thank you, peter cook. moving on, speaking of energy stocks , they were some of the best performers today. deborah kostroun is at the big board with a wrapup of the big action there. deb?
>> bob, we did see broad-based gains from the is begaited oil companies like chevron to exploration companies like devon all rallying, that as natural gas prices surge to over $7 million per b.t.u. that is up 50% since october began. crude oil climbed over $33 a barrel, closed just below the level at $32.95 a barrel, but really shows that energy has been performing quite well recently. i should also mention the amex oil index coming in at a 17-month high as well. if you look at what investors were talking about, charlie crane at victory scfs capital says that stocks are reasonably priced just as long as interest rates stay low and also the economy and earnings grow and really nothing we saw today kind of alters any of the things in that vein. also, we have a lot of stocks that made news today. and also for the week. general motors, they get a really good deal of credit for the dow’s gains this week. that was the biggest gainer in the dow jones industrial average, gaining about 8%. that’s also the best weekly gain since mid march. investors really kind of amaids at the pension fund had climbed out of the deep hole that it was in a couple of years ago, and it was also a really big story. united technologies, that is the maker of otis el vay, to led the gains in the dow jones industrial average not only today, but also yesterday. we did hear yesterday that they didn’t raise their 2004 profit forecast, but analysts say that the rebound in the economy and also the recovery in the airline industry really could help out that company to help them exceed the earnings expectations next year. that stock closing at a record high. we also saw the dividend highs in stock buyback plans coming from three dow components today and hearing earlier in the week from home depot, but coke today really the only gainer you see on the list with the stock buy back of $2 billion. s.b.c. unveiling a stock buy back plan and g.e. raising the dividend. back to you in the studio, bob.
>> thank you, deborah kostroun. first data may sell the stake in the nyse. new york city’s largest automated teller machine network. people familiar with the matter say the sale is designed to overcome u.s. objections that the $7.3 billion purchase of concord e.f.s. would hurt exe situation. first data told the u.s. justice department it is looking for a buyer for the 64% share of the a.t.m. network. a justice department lawsuit to block first data’s acquisition of concord e.f.s. is scheduled to go on trial on monday. let’s get to the numbers as theyed on this friday afternoon. the dow jones industrial average up about 34 points. the s&p 500 up almost three points ton day. and the nasdaq up, we’ll call it 6 2/3 points. all the indexes up about 3/10 of 1%. moving on to volume on the nyse, 1.2 billion shares traded. advancers beat decliners by about 2:1. we’ll call it between 1.4 and 1.5 billion shares traded. advancers leading decliner, but not quite the 2:1. the wilshire 5000 rose about 34 points. checking the thresh ristwerk saw selling action down a 16th of a point on the 10-year and the five-year. the yield on the 10-year up to 4.24%. checking the shorter end of the curve on thresh rist, we see similar action. a mild movement to the downside for the three and two-year. checking the currencies, more weakness for the dollar against both the yen and the euro. that means another record low for the dollar against the euro. the euro up to 1.2276 on the day. but the dollar actually strengthened against the pound. well, as we said t dollar resuming the flight in new york trading today. the u.s. currency falling to 1.23, as we just pointed out per euro for the first time ever before the euro fell back a lit toll 1.2276. the dollar dipped to 107.7 yen. on wednesday it hit a three-year low of 106.5 on wednesday. u.s. treasury secretary john snow said he was not alarmed by the dollar’s recent plunge.
>> i think the economy is really pointing in the right direction. and the fundamentals are excellent, and i look forward to a sustainable recovery with continuing high g.d.p. growth rates and the job numbers getting better and better.
>> of course, a weaker dollar may boost u.s. growth through some exports. that is why some economists believe the bush administration privately welcomes the currency’s decline. general motors said it eliminated most of its $19.3 billion u.s. pension deficit. the company also said closing the gap will add 70 cents to earnings per share in 2004. g.m. held the largest pension deficit among u.s. companies at the end of last year. the standard & poor 500 index is up 22% so far this year. the rally in stocks is helping to ease the pension crisis elsewhere in corporate america. ford motor narrowed the pension deficit as well in that case to $7.1 billion. and exxonmobil has made $2.3 million in contributions to the pension plan this year, chipping away at the $11.3 billion gap. last year’s pension shortfall was the first for companies in the s&p 500 since 1993. the price of crude oil rose today after the president of the organization of petroleum exporting countries said the group may cut production targets at a february meeting. opec wants to bolster prices already headed for the highest prices in trading. crude oil for january delivery rose 3.7% in new york, closing at $33.04 a barrel. for the week, crude prices were up 7.4%, and gold recorded a third straight weekly gain. gold for february delivery rose $4.70 to $410.10 an ounce. futures on gold have risen 18% so far this year to the highest prices since 1996. the dollar’s continuing slide to record lows against the euro has increased the medal’s appeal as a store of value. well, when we come back, optimism about earnings growth and a recovering economy have helped drive stocks high they are year, but can the momentum continue as we head into 2004? we will ask wayne wlibanks, chief investment officer at wlibanks, smith, and thomas where he sees stocks going in the next year. that’s all right after this.
