Bob Pisani's Trader Talk: Oil Ignores Gustav, Russia - Trader Talk with Bob Pisani

Trader Talk Video Gallery

Aretha Franklin at the NYSE

CNBC's Bob Pisani interviews Aretha Franklin at the NYSE.

NYSE Market Wrap

CNBC's Bob Pisani reports on the market day live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

NYSE Midday Hit

CNBC's Bob Pisani discusses the day's market activity, live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Big 3 Back on Capitol Hill

Discussing whether an auto bailout would be good or bad for the markets, with Barry James, James Advantage Funds and CNB...

NYSE Morning Preview

Bob Pisani reports on the trading day from the NYSE

Inside the Markets

Weighing in on the day's market action, with CNBC's Bob Pisani; Jack Gage, Forbes; Jim LaCamp, RBC Wealth Management; an...

Mortgage Rates Surge

The surge in mortgage applications proves there is pent up demand in the market, with CNBC's Diana Olick, Bob Pisani, St...

NYSE Market Wrap

Bob Pisani reports on the trading day from the NYSE

More Videos

Stay up to date with the Trader Talk with Bob Pisani

We’ll send the latest posts directly to you.

Subscribe to this RSS feed

How to use RSS?

Text Size

Aug.27

10:08 AM ET

Wednesday, 27 Aug 2008

Oil Ignores Gustav, Russia; Oil Cos. Sell Gas Stations

Posted By:Bob Pisani

Topics:Investment Strategy | Stock Market

Futures popped nearly 10 points as durable goods jumped more than expected. Dollar rallies a bit but is still down, bonds decline.

CNBC Video: Dollar to Lose 40%

Commodities up as the dollar is a bit weaker today. While oil prices are up $1.82 to $118.09, it is a fairly poor response to Gustav and the tensions with Russia. Airlines are weaker.

Elsewhere:

1) Fannie Mae [FNM Loading... () ] & Freddie Mac [FRE Loading... () ] were most actively traded pre-open; both up about 10 percent.

For Investors:

2) Borders Group [BGP Loading... () ] reported a loss that was less than expected. They are doing what many retailers are doing: keeping costs under control with, among other things, lower inventories. Same store sales were down about 9 percent from the same period a year ago.

3) J Crew [JCG Loading... () ] down 10 percent pre-open, not only missed on top and bottom line, but their guidance for the current quarter and full year is well below consensus. The company is blaming a systems upgrade that disrupted its phone and internet sales.

4) IKON Office Solutions [IKN Loading... () ] is being bought by Ricoh: $17.25 a share, $1.6 billion. Closed yesterday at $15.56 a share.

5) The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that applications for mortgages rose for the first time in three weeks. OK, it's only up 0.5 percent, but it is up; last week it was at the lowest levels since December 2000. How poor are applications? They were 31 percent below their levels of a year ago. Mortgage rates remained relatively stable at 6.44 percent; while this has been up recently, it is not far from where it was a year ago, but the concern is that rates may increase further.

6) Will the last place that sells gas please turn off the pumps: ConocoPhillips [COP Loading... () ] said they would sell the remainder of their 600 company-owned gas stations to PetroSun West for $800 million. They will continue to produce gasoline. In June, ExxonMobil [XOM Loading... () ] said it would sell its stations, and BP [BP Loading... () ] said it would sell its U.S. stations.