Monday, November 17, 2008

McClatchy shares rise 1.2 percent Monday

Despite a steady drumbeat of bad news over the past few days -- including a Friday report that McClatchy stock "could be worthless" -- McClatchy (MNI) shares rose 1.2 percent in trading on Monday, closing at $1.65 a share. By contrast, the Dow fell 2.3 percent on Monday.
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Predicting the stock market can be a humbling experience. Reviewing the information over the weekend, I was convinced MNI would drop further today, but that didn't happen. Other newspaper stocks fell today. NYT was down 3.3 percent, Gannett was down 7.7 percent, Lee was down 5.6 percent, Media General was down 2.9 percent, A.H.Belo was down 4.5 percent.
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In comments, an explanation:
"... what you are seeing is short covering. When closing out short positions you buy the shares back. With over 20 million shares held by short sellers, it is going to take time to unwind it. Check the difference between the publishing index compared to MNI. They are complete opposites."

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

..Only a compulsive gambler...with someone elses money...would buy McClatchy stock in the faint hope it would rise in value. Confederate war bonds are a surer way to fortune. Of the twelve newspaper companies listed in the Newosaur's post of 3rd quarter losers, McClatchy lost the most sales..16.4%.

Kevin Gregory said...

Dave - good point, anybody buying MNI now is probably using somebody else's money.