Alpharma Inc. jumped US$2.54 to US$16. The maker of generic drugs said it expects to earn between US$1.15 and US$1.25 a share this year, above the average analyst estimate of US$1.06, according to Thomson First Call.
Wyeth dropped US$0.75 to US$38.25. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit reversed a US$226 million tax refund, saying an overseas partnership set up by the drugmaker on Merrill Lynch & Co's advice was a "sham" that lacked a legitimate business justification.
Lexmark International Inc tumbled US$4 to US$62.26. The second-biggest US maker of computer printers said first-quarter net income will rise to 62 cents to US$0.72 a share. The average forecast was US$0.72, according to First Call. Printer demand usually falls in the first quarter and may slide more than normal this time after sales of inkjet printers rose more than 10 percent in the fourth quarter, according to market researcher Dataquest Inc.
Dell Computer Corp., the largest seller of personal computers, fell US$1.15 to US$27.15.
AOL Time Warner Inc rose US$0.55 to US$14.88 and Homestore Inc soared US$0.38 to US$1.32. The manager of the Web site of the National Association of Realtors said it settled an arbitration demand against the largest media company. Homestore will continue to provide AOL Time Warner's America Online unit with real-estate information and make quarterly cash payments of US$3.75 million until the agreement expires in June 2004. Homestore also will pay US$7.5 million to terminate its previous agreement with AOL.
AOL Time Warner will cut jobs and pare marketing expenditures to save money, the Washington Post reported, citing Wayne Pace, chief financial officer.
JC Penney Co fell US$0.98 to US$23.60. The second-largest US department-store company will fire 2,000 people at its catalog unit after nine quarters of falling sales.
Genzyme Corp rose US$2.67 to US$31.58. The company's Fabrazyme drug clears up abnormal fat deposits in Fabry disease patients, US government reviewers said. Genzyme will seek a US Food and Drug Administration advisory committee's backing next week for Fabrazyme.
Oil company shares fell as the prospect of more production sent crude down 1 percent in New York.
Exxon Mobil Corp fell US$0.50 to US$35.24, ConocoPhilips lost US$1.32 to US$46.69 and ChevronTexaco Corp shed 51 cents to US$68.61.
"We had gone through such a period of pessimism in the past year," said Richard Parry, a money manager at Tom Johnson Investment Management, which oversees about US$1 billion. "Now we haven't yet seen a great deal of corporate earnings announcements that have been negative. There's still optimism out there."
The S&P 500 lost 23 percent last year.
RSS