8/7/09 am Judge Doesn't Yet Approve BofA SEC Settlement

Post #42 The following is brought to you by Intellivest Securities Research, Inc. The following is not intended as advertising by a broker-dealer and is not a research report.

A read of Friday's 8/7/09 print editions of: Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily, Financial Times, and Atl Journal Const yielded the following stories about Dow Jones 30 component companies:

The current divisor for the Dow found at today's page C4 of The Wall St. Jrnl is .132319125 unchanged.

FT p15 "Judge's order puts focus on BofA executives" says a judge refused to accept a $33 mil settlement between BAC BofA and the SEC. BAC had agreed earlier this week to pay the penalty to settle gov. charges tht it misled investors about Merrill Lynch's plans to pay bonuses to its executive. It is rare for a federal judge not to approve such deals. But since these types of settlements are subject to court approval Judge Jed Rakoff declined to grant it pending a hearing on Monday. Similar item at AJC p16, at WSJ pC3, Inv Bus Daily at pA1, and USA Today p1B.

Fin Times p16 "Pfizer agrees to cut price of TB drug - Deal designed to aid developing nations - generic competitors will be undercut" says that PFE became the first research based drug company to agree with the Clinton Foundtation to cut the price of medicines for patients in low-income countries.

WSJ pC1 "Stocks Take Breather After Their Quick 14% Surge" says Berkshire Hathaway has doen well with its holdings of AXP American Express which has more than tripled since early March. Related story "Large Stock Focus" that says PG Procter & Gamble continues to slide a day after its earnings report.

NYT "Shares Fall Again, Pushed by Jitters Over Jobless Rate" mentions that VZ Verizon slipped 1% to 30.96 driving echnology shares down.

USA Today p4B "Unease about job report weighs on stocks" says WMT slipped 0.22 to 48.98 and AXP gained 0.95 to 31.31 and helped pull up shares of financial sector after AXP said the rate of losses on credit card loans is slowing.

WSJ pB1 "Unilever CEO's Push to Cut Prices Drives Increase in Sales" mentions that Unilever's 2Q sales rose 4.1% and, by comparison, its rival PG Procter & Gamble's sales for the same period fell 1%.

WSJ pB1 in an article about retailers bracing for weak school shopping says (as these type of articles almost always do) that "industry giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. recently stopped releassing monthly figures."

WSJ pB3 "Elan Files Suit Against Biogen Over J&J Deal for Tysabri" says that Elan asked a federal judge to intervene in its fight with marketing partner biogen Idec Inc. over the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri. Elan asked the fed court in NYC to allow an investment from JNJ Johnson & Johnson that it says Biogen is trying to block. The investment would complete a serch for partners Elan launched under pressure from investors dissatisfied with its management. Related story at NYT pB5.

AJC p1 front section says Wells Fargo and JPM JP Morgan Chase are gearing up for a fight over Atlanta's banking customers because Wells Fargo acquired Wachovia's branches and JPM acquired Washington Mutual's branches. BofA is also mentioned as a player.

WSJ pC7 "Small Banks Gain Cachet in Talent Poaching games" that talks about how it is getting easier to persuade big name alent to join small regional banks giving an example of a recent such hire from JPM.

JPM is mentioned in a NY T story at pB3 has having already paid back fed rescue money as Morgan Stanley is now trying to do regarding a buyback of a $950 million warrant from the gov.

Fin T p10 "Story of Wal_mart is the history and future of America" that reviews "How WalMart Created a Brave New World of Business" by Nelson Lichtenstein. There is an editorial at NYT pA16 "Can WalMart Be Sustainable" that applauds WMT for combining cut rate prices with high class environmental stewardship.

NYT pB1 "Inside GE, A Little Bit of Enron" says that a decade ago, GE was the shining star of US business and how far GE has fallen. This week GE agreed to pay a $50 mil fine to settle a suit filed by the SEC that said GE fiddled with its books repeatedly early in this decade and says what GE did was "eerily reminiscent of Enron."

Then, at NYT pB3 there is a story "GE to Add Two New US Plants as Unions Agree on Csot Controls" that says for the frist time in decades GE is adding new operations at two of its manufacturing hubs demonstrating a new commitment to producing in the US. GE is building a 350 employee plant in Schenectady, NY to make high density batteries for locomotives. Also, it is building a 420 worker factory in Louisville, KY to produce hybrid electric water heaters that are now made in China.

The price of a Big Mac sold by MCD is in a story at USA p1B about price gouging at the nation's airports.

THE FOLLOWING APPEARED IN THURSDAY'S AFTERNOON BLOG:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Thursday at 9256.26 down 24.71 or 0.27% from Thursday's close of 9280.97. Of the 30 Dow Companies: 14 gained and 16 declined with the biggest loser being CSCO $22.308 +0.138 0.62% 83,259,817 NASDAQ-GS and the biggest gainer being BA Boeing $45.52 +1.49 3.38% 10,206,415 NYSE.

The current divisor for the Dow found at today's page C4 of The Wall St. Jrnl is .132319125 unchanged.

Thursday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing numerator was 1224.78 down 3.27 down 5.19 from Wednesday's closing Dow numerator of 1228.05. This is the sum of all 30 closing prices. A short cut to the Dow numerator is to multiply the closing Dow by the Divisor.

Now, if you divide the Dow numerator decrease for today of 5.19 by the divisor you get 24.71, the decrease in Thursday's Dow close.

The average closing price (the closing numerator divided by 30) of Thursday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was 40.83 down 0.11 from Wednesday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing price of 40.94. The median closing price of Thursday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was 36.61 down 0.32 from Wednesday's Dow Jones median closing price of 36.93.

The highest closing price Thursday again was IBM $117.38 -1.09 0.92% 6,002,987 NYSE and the lowest closing price Thursday again was Alcoa AA $$12.8 -0.48 3.61% 58,165,722 NYSE.

The lowest volume Thursday was MMM $72.4 -0.57 0.79% 4,296,463 NYSE and the highest volume again was BAC BofAm $16.7 +0.04 0.24% 459,860,771 NYSE.

If Thursday morning before the market opened you had purchased $100 of each of the Dow Jones Industrial Average 30 shares (assuming you could buy fractional shares and assuming no transaction costs) and sold at the close you would have lost $330 ($122,820 - $122,490).

Thursday's Closing Dow closing numbers:
Symb/Last/Change/% Change/Vol./Market

T $25.55 -0.18 0.7% 25,760,337 NYSE
AA $12.8 -0.48 3.61% 58,165,722 NYSE
AXP $31.31 +0.95 3.13% 28,313,784 NYSE
BAC $16.7 +0.04 0.24% 459,860,771 NYSE
BA $45.52 +1.49 3.38% 10,206,415 NYSE
CAT $47.14 +0.50 1.07% 12,241,593 NYSE
CVX $69.25 -0.54 0.77% 8,654,792 NYSE
CSCO $22.308 +0.138 0.62% 83,259,817 NASDAQ-GS
KO $49.39 +0.22 0.45% 6,905,780 NYSE
DIS $25.37 +0.10 0.4% 9,125,828 NYSE
DD $32.46 +0.38 1.18% 9,072,673 NYSE
XOM $69.73 -0.30 0.43% 17,360,774 NYSE
GE $14.31 +0.32 2.29% 120,079,784 NYSE
HPQ $42.21 -1.05 2.43% 17,011,691 NYSE
HD $26.54 +0.21 0.8% 13,754,416 NYSE
INTC $18.7 -0.16 0.85% 66,764,376 NASDAQ-GS
IBM $117.38 -1.09 0.92% 6,002,987 NYSE
JPM $40.75 -1.03 2.47% 54,126,110 NYSE
JNJ $59.93 -0.52 0.86% 10,834,887 NYSE
KFT $28.36 +0.03 0.11% 6,375,342 NYSE
MCD $54.84 -0.25 0.45% 10,247,711 NYSE
MRK $29.36 -0.25 0.84% 10,972,712 NYSE
MSFT $23.46 -0.35 1.47% 59,655,045 NASDAQ-GS
PFE $15.79 -0.08 0.5% 38,096,032 NYSE
PG $51.46 -2.45 4.54% 29,364,450 NYSE
MMM $72.4 -0.57 0.79% 4,296,463 NYSE
TRV $46.78 -0.20 0.43% 5,174,150 NYSE
UTX $55.06 -0.84 1.55% 6,059,182 NYSE
VZ $30.96 +0.31 0.99% 14,840,949 NYSE
WMT $48.98 +0.22 0.45% 16,211,001 NYSE