Stocks In Focus For Thursday

Among the companies whose shares are expected to see active trade in Thursday's session are Lawson, Chevron, EMC, Crucell and Wyeth.

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Energy stocks are clipped by a 175-point opening drop by the Dow Jones Industrials Average and a steep $3 drop in oil prices following a report of bearish supply data.

There's a ray of sunshine in all that doom and gloom.

We cite Exxon (XOM), Chevron (CVX) and ConocoPhillips (COP). In its weekly report, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported substantial crude oil inventory build. The agency reported that total crude oil stocks for the week ended January 2 increased by 6.7 million barrels from the preceding week, significantly above expectations. Current stocks are 15.1% above the comparable period last year. As such, current stock levels provide for 22.5 days of supply, significantly above the year-earlier level of 18.4 days. <img src="http://www.zacks.com/images/upload_dir/1231364187bmp" alt=""[More...]

US stocks fell sharply on Wednesday after a worse than expected employment report rattled investors ahead of Friday's key jobs data. Deteriorating corporate outlook also dampened the sentiment.[More...]

Filed under: General Electric (GE), Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Market matters, Walt Disney (DIS), Caterpillar (CAT), Chevron Corp (CVX), duPont(E.I.)deNemours (DD), Dow Chemical (DOW), DJIA, Stocks to Buy, Cramer on BloggingStocks

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer takes a look at the next six Dow stocks: Caterpillar, Chevron, Coca-Cola, Disney, Du Pont and General Electric.

Editor's note: This is the second part of Jim Cramer's series of predictions for the Dow components in 2009. If you missed the first part, you can go to Cramer bullish on the Dow for '09 -- Part I

Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) (Cramer's Take): Here's a direct play on a turn in China and a huge stimulus plan by President-elect Obama. I believe the dividend is safe, and I trust management when it says that 2009's second half can be much better than the first half, even though I am in a lonely minority on that front. The decision to freeze wages and fire a bunch of people made sense and made me believe the company cares more about maintaining the dividend through hard times than I thought it did.

I believe the stock will get gigantic orders from the U.S. government after the passing of a stimulus plan. You can't build any infrastructure without Caterpillar's equipment, and the government ain't buying tractors from Komatsu. Helped by its 4% yield, the stock will go back to $55, a fantastic move, even though first-quarter earnings will be horrible. Don't forget, China's coming back, and that's a second big customer.

Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Cramer bullish on the Dow for '09 -- Part II

Cramer on BloggingStocks: Cramer bullish on the Dow for '09 -- Part II originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earnings season does not really begin in earnest until NEXT week but the first wave is hitting this week. I believe this quarter will be one of "pulled guidance" (we have no visibility) and lots of complaints about the stronger dollar hurting the multinationals. Bulls will keep saying "yes but that's the past, you have to buy in anticipation of the coming recovery". Bears will snort. So we begin.... Here are some of the names I am watching both for company specific comments and greater macro economic views. I don't have time to break it out like this every week since so many more companies begin reporting each week, but here is an example of what I look at each week of earnings season as I assimilate as much info as possible ;) Monday: Fund position<span[More...]

Tom Dorsey and Tammy DeRosier - Tech Leaders and Balance Fund Update with John Lewis, CMT; Portfolio Manager at Dorsey Wright Money Management

Companies featured in this segment: General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM), Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F), Chrysler LLC, General Mills Incorporated (NYSE:GIS), General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), Sasol (NYSE:SSL), Dong Energy, Peel Holdings, British Energy Group plc (LSE:BGY), NRG Energy Incorporated (NYSE:NRG), and Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX).

Companies featured in this segment: Arrow Energy Limited (ASX:AOE), ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM), Chevron (NYSE:CVX), CF Industries Holdings Incorporated (NYSE:CF), Merck & Company Incorporated (NYSE:MRK), National Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE:NSM), Transneft AK OAO (RTC:TRNFP), Gazprom OAO (RTD:GAZP), ENI SpA (NYSE:E), FPL Group Incorporated (NYSE:FPL), Progress Energy Incorporated (NYSE:PGN), and General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM).

Schaeffer's analyst Colleen S. King takes a look at the major news of the day on Wall Street.

Companies featured in this segment: General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM), Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F), Chrysler LLC, BP plc (NYSE:BP), Clipper Windpower plc (LSE:CWP), Otter Tail Corporation (NASDAQ:OTTR), MDU Resources Group Incorporated (NYSE:MDU), Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW), Rohm and Haas (NYSE:ROH), Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company Incorporated (TYO:4182), Itochu Corporation (OTC:ITOCY), ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), Nippon Oil Corporation (TYO:5001), Santos Limited (NASDAQ:STOSY), AGL Energy Limited (ASX:AGK), Sasol Limited (NYSE:SSL), Eni S.p.A (NYSE:E), Horizon Oil Limited (ASX:HZN), Interoil Corporation (TSX:IOL), Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), and Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS-A)