Jacobs Engineering Group (JEC) +5.81%
JEC, the second-largest publicly traded U.S. engineering company, has surged 71.23 percent in the last five trading sessions on optimism that a government stimulus package will boost highway and energy projects.
President-elect Barack Obama plans to propose a stimulus package of as much as $600 billion for infrastructure such as roads and energy after taking office in January to help pull the U.S. out of recession. JEC said that billable hours have reached a record pace and results in October and November are running ahead of expectations.
Other companies that have benefited from news of infrastructure stimulus packages across the globe include: HSC, GE, CAT, IR, MTW.
Bank of America (BAC) +5.31%
The Federal Reserve’s approval of BAC’s Merrill Lynch acquisition this week, gives BAC control over roughly 11.9 percent of the nation’s deposits. Banks are not usually allowed to control more than 10 percent of the nation’s insured deposits after an acquisition, but there is an exception in some circumstances. BAC likely wasn’t blocked because the insured deposits held by Merrill Lynch were in an industrial bank and a federal thrift.
The Fed decided that the acquisition is “not likely to have a significantly adverse effect on competition in any relevant banking market or in any relevant market. The Fed didn’t require BAC to divest of any deposits following the deal, but did say BAC “has committed that it will conform, terminate, or divest, within two years of the acquisition of Merrill, all the activities and investments of Merrill that are not permissible for a bank holding company” under federal law.
In other BAC news...CEO Ken Lewis expressed that the money the federal government injected into BAC was money that the bank “did not need and did not seek…We accepted the funds from the government as part of a broad plan to stabilize the financial markets generally, and will pay interest to the government on the funds until the investment is paid back.” Lewis went on to say that BAC was “one of the strongest and most stable banks in the world.”
General Electric (GE) +6.05%
Ending months of speculation, Korea-based LG Electronics said it will not acquire the home appliance unit of GE. In May, GE indicated it was planning to sell its appliance business, which at the time was expected to fetch between $5 billion and $8 billion.
Holiday Shopping
This is an interesting article from Seeking Alpha, which takes a look at holiday shopping trends.
However, there is really no reason for this type of madness as this weekend’s holiday shopping takes place. Chances are that these “one-weekend” prices will be the same in two weeks, and maybe even lower.
Quick Hits
- Banks Want Clarity Soon on Fair Value Accounting
- Rescue Plan Strained by Lack of Staff
- The energy sector’s drop shadows that of oil futures, which were down 4.4 percent to 52.06 per barrel ahead of an OPEC meeting this weekend. Many expect OPEC to further cut oil production as demand wanes amid a slower global economy.
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Peter Lazaroff, Junior Analyst
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