9/22/09 am Tues. Dell, to Buy Perot, Will Hurt IBM & HPQ

The following is not intended as advertising by a broker-dealer and is not a research report.

Post #119 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. Towards the end of this Blog is an update of the Dow 30's most recent SEC filings as of 9/18/09, a list of the Dow 30 CEO's and a ranking of the Dow 30 by market capitalization.

A read of Tuesday's 9/22/09 print editions of: Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Investors Business Daily, New York Times, Atl Journal Const, & USA Today yielded the following stories about Dow Jones Industrial Average 30 component companies and the Dow with stories about the Dow aggregated first and then items about Dow Jones Industrial Average 30 companies presented alphabetically, followed by symbol and Thursday's closing price and related data:

Dow: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Monday at 9820.2 down 41.34 or 0.42% from Friday's close of 9820.2. Of the 30 Dow Companies: 9 gained and 21 declined with the biggest loser being American Express AXP $33.76 -1.01 2.9% 10,036,543 NYSE and the biggest gainer being WalMart WMT $50.91 +0.80 1.6% 15,175,149 NYSE.

WSJ pC1 "Stocks Retreat 41.34 Ahead of Fed Meeting" by Peter A. McKay says stocks slipped, the dollar rose and commodities tumbled as investors took a breather from risk bets ahead of the Fed Reserve policy makers' two day meeting starting on Tues. American Express fell 2.9%, Bank of America fell 2.2% and Alcoa finished 0.9% lower, although it was down more than 3% earlier in the day.

WSJ pC5 "Large Stock Focus - AmEX Drops 2.9% As Potash Sinks 4.2%" by Geofrey Rogow says the three sectors at the forefront of the market's six month rally - energy, materials and financials, all pushed lower, with Chevron, Potash Corp. and American Express pacing only the third decline in 12 sessions for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Stand & Poor's 500-stock index. Dow component Caterpillar said global machinery sales through retailers fell 48% in the 3 months to the end of Aug., compared with year ago data. Cat closed down 1.8%.

Fin Times p26 "Fears of pull-back offset impact of Dell's $3.9bn deal" by Samantha Pearson, Michael Mackenzie says a $3.9bn deal by Dell was not enough to lift US stocks out of the red yesterday, as investors grew wary of a pullback. Last week, Wall Street rallied to 11 month highs on encouraging economic data and higher commodity prices. But after metals retreated and oil sunk below $70 a barrel, materials and energy stocks yesterday dragged the market lower from the opening bell. ExxonMobil lost 0.6%. Intel lost 0.1% after EU regulators released details of he alleged antitrust abuses that led to Intel's $1.6bn fine in May. Morgan Stanley raised its price target on GE to $19 from $17, saying GE has been largely ignored by investors over the past 2 years due to high profile mistakens and embarrassments at its sub, NBC Universal.

NYT pB10 "Stocks Retreat From Their Recent Gains as Investors Cash In Profits" by Jack Healy says the stock market peeled back some of its recent gains on Mon. as investors cashed in profits and unwound their recent bets on the dollar, gold and oil. Financial shares fell the most of 10 major market groups, and energy producers and companies that make industrial products like plastics and chemicals fell, reflecting some investors' cocnerns that an ebullient rally had vaulted some corners of the stock market too high, too fast. Markets across Europe and Asia also titled lower. A new report on forward looking economic signals underscored concerns about overly optimistic expecations in the stockmarket, even as it signaled that he recession was ending. The Conference Board's index of leading indicators improved for another month, bolstered by high supplier deliveries, improvements in credit markets and increases in building permits, all signals of an economy on the mend.

USA Today p4B "Markets Monday - Nasdaq manages gain as S&P, Dow fall" says stocks ended Mon. mixed as a drop in oil and other commodity prices hurt energy and materials stocks, while a brokerage's upgrade boosted the biotech sector. It notes CAT's decline falling 0.96.

WSJ pB6 "Dow Jones Plans to Close Down Far Easten Economic Review" by Shira Ovide says Dow Jones & Co. will close the Far Eastern Economic Review after 63 years.

The current divisor for the Dow found at today's page C4 of The Wall St. Jrnl is .132319125 unchanged. Monday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing numerator was 1293.93 down 5.47 from Friday's closing Dow numerator of 1299.4. 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 5.47 by the divisor you get 41.34, the decrease in Monday's Dow close.

The average closing price (the closing numerator divided by 30) of Monday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was 43.13 down 0.18 from Friday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing price of 43.31. The median closing price of Monday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was 39.17 down 0.69 from Friday's Dow Jones median closing price of 39.86. The highest closing price Monday again was IBM $121.57 -0.54 0.44% 4,476,073 NYSE and the lowest closing price Monday again was Alcoa AA $13.94 -0.12 0.85% 21,806,564 NYSE. The lowest volume Monday again was 3M MMM $74.54 -0.08 0.11% 2,536,138 NYSE and the highest volume again was Bank of Am BAC $17.25 -0.38 2.16% 125,498,040 NYSE.

If Monday 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 $540.
($129,930 - $129,390)

AT&T T $26.87 -0.18 0.67% 23,212,952 NYSE: WSJ pA4 "Internet Providers Push Back Against Net Neutrality Proposal" by Amy Schatz, Fawn Johnson & NYT pb3 "FCC Proposes Rules That Support Net Neutrality" says phone and cable companies, including Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T, and Comcast criticized proposed rules that would prohibit Internet service providers from slowing competitors' Web traffic or impeding access to legal Web content. FCC Chrman Julius Genachowski in a speech Mon proposed expanding current guideliness on net neutrality by making them full fledged rules and extending them to wireless carriers. FCC's propsed 5 rules: Consumers are: enttiled: 1) to access any legal content; 2) to use any Internet app or service; 3) to connect to any device that won't hurt network; and 4) same rules apply to cable/DSL & wireless Intrent and 5) Internet provides can't block competitors' online services.

Related Editorial at WSJ pA24 "Bad News for Broadband" criticizes the FCC's move saying these net neutrality rules will discourage the type of investment on broadband pipe such as AT&T spending $18 bil in '08.

WSJ pB5 Google's Phone Service Likely to Draw Scrutiny - System for Managing Calls and Messages Gains Attention as FCC Reconciles new Tech with Old Rules" by Fawn Johnson says the FCC is going to examine Google's new phone management service as the FCC tries to reconcile rotary phone era rules for iPhones and BlackBerrys. Google is letting consumers test its Google Voice service, which allows people to link all of their phones to a common number and manage calls and messages through a single Web site and use the service to send and receive calls and text messages. Traditional phone companies such as AT&T and Verizon Communications aren't allowed to block adult chat lines or free conference call centers and they will be upset if newer phone services like Google aren't given the same treatment. Several years ago, AT&t and others tried blocking calls to lines with inflated access charges and the FCC stopped them. Verizon, At&t & Sprint Nextel havee protested smaller carriers' ability to route popular numbers through high cost areas, forcing them to pay several times the average rate for connecting calls.

Related story at WSJ pC10 "Paying a High Price for Web Freedom" says the FCC's new proposal for a "free and open Internet" sounds good but the Internet isn't free to build. However, there may be hope for AT&T and other large carriers becuase the FCC Chair said the FCC rrecognizes that very heavyusers shold not crowd out everyone else.

Related story at IBD pA4 "AT&T Issues Rebuke To FCC's Proposals On Wireless Internet - Net Neutrality Fight Ahead - Feds create impression of bait and switch in eyeing new rules, says phone firm" by Reinhardt Krause says AT&T says fed regulators are wrong to propose that rules governing Web traffic on broadbank networks be extended to include wireless services. The FCC is alos reviewing exclusive service provider deals such as the one T ahs for the Apple iPHone.

WSJ pB5 "Netflix Awards Prize to Researchers" & AJC pA12 & NYT by Steve Lohr says Netflix declared a 7 member group of researchers, scientists and engineers from around the world as winners of its 3 year, $1 mil contest to improve its move recommendation system by at least 10%. The team consists of 2 researchers at AT&T, 2 engineers from Montreal, a research scientist at Yahoo and 2 machine learning researchers from Austria.

IBD pA1 "AT&T, Cisco, Others Change Pay" says 9 major companies including AT&T, Cisco Systems and Hewlett-Packard agreed to revise their executive compensation guidelines seeking to preempt calls by lawmakers for limits on pay as was previously aggregated on this Blog.

Alcoa AA $13.94 -0.12 0.85% 21,806,564 NYSE: WSJ pC1 "Stocks Retreat 41.34 Ahead of Fed Meeting" by Peter A. McKay says stocks slipped, the dollar rose and commodities tumbled as investors took a breather from risk bets ahead of the Fed Reserve policy makers' two day meeting starting on Tues. American Express fell 2.9%, Bank of America fell 2.2% and Alcoa finished 0.9% lower, although it was down more than 3% earlier in the day.

American Express AXP $33.76 -1.01 2.9% 10,036,543 NYSE: WSJ pC1 "Stocks Retreat 41.34 Ahead of Fed Meeting" by Peter A. McKay says stocks slipped, the dollar rose and commodities tumbled as investors took a breather from risk bets ahead of the Fed Reserve policy makers' two day meeting starting on Tues. American Express fell 2.9%, Bank of America fell 2.2% and Alcoa finished 0.9% lower, although it was down more than 3% earlier in the day.

WSJ pC5 "Large Stock Focus - AmEX Drops 2.9% As Potash Sinks 4.2%" by Geofrey Rogow says the three sectors at the forefront of the market's six month rally - energy, materials and financials, all pushed lower, with Chevron, Potash Corp. and American Express pacing only the third decline in 12 sessions for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Stand & Poor's 500-stock index. Dow component Caterpillar said global machinery sales through retailers fell 48% in the 3 months to the end of Aug., compared with year ago data. Cat closed down 1.8%.

Bank of America BAC $17.25 -0.38 2.16% 125,498,040 NYSE: WSJ pC1 "BofA Takes Pricey Steps To Dial Back its US Ties" by Dan Fitzpatrick, Kara Scannell says Bank of America began to loosen the gov's grip, including an agreement to pay $425 mil to exit from a never used loss sharing pact reached after Merrill losses ballooned.

Similar story at NYT pB1 "Bank of America Seeks to Pay Back Federal Aid" by Louise Story says one year and 2 bailouts later, BofA is trying to extricate itself from washington's grip. CEO Kenneth D. Lewis said he would pay the gov $425 mil for unused federal guarantees against losses at Merrill and that it is sound enough to repay billions in fed aid.

WSJ pC1 "Stocks Retreat 41.34 Ahead of Fed Meeting" by Peter A. McKay says stocks slipped, the dollar rose and commodities tumbled as investors took a breather from risk bets ahead of the Fed Reserve policy makers' two day meeting starting on Tues. American Express fell 2.9%, Bank of America fell 2.2% and Alcoa finished 0.9% lower, although it was down more than 3% earlier in the day.

WSJ pC3 "Verisk Sets Biggest IPO Of the year" by Lynn Cowan says insurancerisk specialist Verisk Analytics Inc. plans in 2 weeks to do the largest ipo in the US in more than a year and the offering is managed by Bank of America and Morgan Stanley.

Also reported at AJC pA12.

IBD pA2 "House Committee targets BofA" says Re. Ed Towns, D of NY, says the bank withheld key info from shareholders about what it knew of problems at Merrill. He sent a letter to the House Comm. on Oversight and Gov. Reform that said BofA is hiding behind attorney client privilege.

Boeing BA $52.86 -0.16 0.3% 3,045,930 NYSE: WSJ pB3 "New Pentagon Priorities Reshape Defense business - Smaller Contractors Benefit Amid Shift from High Tech Weapons to More Basic Arms Meant for Quick Deplayment" by August Cole says Def. Secy Robrt Gates has been overhauling the Pentagon's proposed $634 bil fiscal 2010 budget, slashing many high tech weapons systems. This will change the way defense contractors do business. They will be faced with tighter cost ceilings and deadlines. As an example, the F-22 Raptor is the most advanced fighter ever build and its contractor is Lockheed and the subcontractor is Boeing. They started work on it in '91 and din't deliver the first fighter until '07. Now Gates has said the Air Force can't buy any more of the $143 mil fighters so Lockheed may have to shut down its assembly line in Marietta, Ga. in 2011.

Caterpillar CAT $52.46 -0.96 1.8% 10,087,087 NYSE: IBD pA2 "Caterpillar says declines easing" says CAT, the world's larget maker of earthmoving gear said dealer sales of its heavy gear, diesel engines and gas turbines remained weak in Aug, but many markets showed signs of stabilizing. Global dealer sales of those machines fell 49% in the 3 months ended Aug. 31.

WSJ pC5 "Large Stock Focus - AmEX Drops 2.9% As Potash Sinks 4.2%" by Geofrey Rogow says the three sectors at the forefront of the market's six month rally - energy, materials and financials, all pushed lower, with Chevron, Potash Corp. and American Express pacing only the third decline in 12 sessions for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Stand & Poor's 500-stock index. Dow component Caterpillar said global machinery sales through retailers fell 48% in the 3 months to the end of Aug., compared with year ago data. Cat closed down 1.8%.

Chevron CVX $72.05 -0.59 0.81% 8,284,897 NYSE: WSJ pC5 "Large Stock Focus - AmEX Drops 2.9% As Potash Sinks 4.2%" by Geofrey Rogow says the three sectors at the forefront of the market's six month rally - energy, materials and financials, all pushed lower, with Chevron, Potash Corp. and American Express pacing only the third decline in 12 sessions for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. Dow component Caterpillar said global machinery sales through retailers fell 48% in the 3 months to the end of Aug., compared with year ago data. Cat closed down 1.8%.

Cisco CSCO $23.63 +0.23 0.98% 50,921,556 NASDAQ-GS: IBD pA1 "AT&T, Cisco, Others Change Pay" says 9 major companies including AT&T, Cisco Systems and Hewlett-Packard agreed to revise their executive compensation guidelines seeking to preempt calls by lawmakers for limits on pay as was previously aggregated on this Blog.

WSJ pA1 "Dell To Buy Perot In Catch-Up Deal" by Justin, Scheck, Ben Worthen, Jerry A. Dicolo and Fin Ttimes p16 "Dell in $3.9bn move for Perot by Alan Rappeport, Joseph Menn says Dell Inc. agreed to buy Perot Systems Corp. for $3.9 bil, paying a big premium to catch-up with the big tech rivals that have been using the recession to expand beyond their traditional businesses. Perot sells information tech services to institutions. Dell will pay $30 per class A share, a 68% premium. This is Dell's biggest deal and moves it beyond its core pc business, where profits have shrunk. Combined with Dell's curent services, this combo would be an $8 bil a year tech services business and would compete better with IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco and others who sell email systems and back ofice computers.

Coca-Cola KO $53 -0.76 1.41% 12,299,830 NYSE: AJC pA14 "Soccer pitch: coke unveils World Cup plans" says KO roll out plans aimed at cashing in on its sponsorship of the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament.

DIS $28 -0.44 1.55% 10,772,182 NYSE: No mentions found.

DD $33.78 +0.04 0.12% 5,911,297 NYSE: No mentions found.

ExxonMobil XOM $69.57 -0.42 0.6% 17,798,997 NYSE: Fin Times p26 "Fears of pull-back offset impact of Dell's $3.9bn deal" by Samantha Pearson, Michael Mackenzie says a $3.9bn deal by Dell was not enough to lift US stocks out of the red yesterday, as investors grew wary of a pullback. Last week, Wall Street rallied to 11 month highs on encouraging economic data and higher commodity prices. But after metals retreated and oil sunk below $70 a barrel, materials and energy stocks yesterday dragged the market lower from the opening bell. ExxonMobil lost 0.6%. Intel lost 0.1% after EU regulators released details of he alleged antitrust abuses that led to Itel's $1.6bn fine in May. Morgan Stanley raised its price target on GE to $19 from $17, saying GE has been largely ignored by investors over the past 2 years due to high profile mistakens and embarrassments at its sub, NBC Universal.

GE $16.76 +0.26 1.58% 108,247,887 NYSE: WSJ pB4 "Wind Turbine Makers press for Green mandates" by russell Gold says wind trubine makers say growth cold dramatically slow unless the fed gov requires more electricity comes from renewable energy. New fed stimulus grants helped a stalled wind power industry but Vic Abate, a GE vp in charge of its wind turbine biz, said orders for wind turbines to be built in 2012 have been extremely light.

WSJ pC5 "GE has Tale to Tell if Only Investors Shrug Off Past" by Matt Phillips says with the financial crisis, investors sold GE because its GE Capital had ballooned to half of GE's earnings. GE's shares fell to 17 year lows earlier this year. Now Morgan Stanley analysts say GE's stock story is changing and investors shold not overly fixate on GE's '08 and '09 problems.

Fin Times p26 "Fears of pull-back offset impact of Dell's $3.9bn deal" by Samantha Pearson, Michael Mackenzie says a $3.9bn deal by Dell was not enough to lift US stocks out of the red yesterday, as investors grew wary of a pullback. Last week, Wall Street rallied to 11 month highs on encouraging economic data and higher commodity prices. But after metals retreated and oil sunk below $70 a barrel, materials and energy stocks yesterday dragged the market lower from the opening bell. ExxonMobil lost 0.6%. Intel lost 0.1% after EU regulators released details of he alleged antitrust abuses that led to Intel's $1.6bn fine in May. Morgan Stanley raised its price target on GE to $19 from $17, saying GE has been largely ignored by investors over the past 2 years due to high profile mistakens and embarrassments at its sub, NBC Universal.

NYT pB2 "Which Way NBC?" says Vivendi, the French telecommunications company, may exercise its option to sell its 20% stake in NBC next month that could force GE to divest itself of all or part of NBC. Or, it might buy Vivendi's stake if it can find the cash but selling a big chunk of NBC now could increase GE shareholders' exposure to GE Capital.

Hewlett-Packard HPQ $46.35 +0.20 0.43% 11,462,506 NYSE: WSJ pA1 "Dell To Buy Perot In Catch-Up Deal" by Justin, Scheck, Ben Worthen, Jerry A. Dicolo and Fin Ttimes p16 "Dell in $3.9bn move for Perot by Alan Rappeport, Joseph Menn; NYT at pB1 in a story by Saul Hansell, Ashlee Vance & IBD lead story at pA3 & USA Today Biz Section p1B by Byron Acohido all say Dell Inc. agreed to buy Perot Systems Corp. for $3.9 bil, paying a big premium to catch-up with the big tech rivals that have been using the recession to expand beyond their traditional businesses. Perot sells information tech services to institutions. Dell will pay $30 per class A share, a 68% premium. This is Dell's biggest deal and moves it beyond its core pc business, where profits have shrunk. Combined with Dell's curent services, this combo would be an $8 bil a year tech services business and would compete better with IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco and others who sell email systems and back office computers.

Also reported at AJC pA12.

Related story at WSJ pC10 "Dell Chooses Well, But Bargins less so" notes that Dell is buying Perot just 16 months after Hewlett-Packard bought Electtronic Data Systems, the first IT-services concern founded by H Ross Perot.

IBD pA1 "AT&T, Cisco, Others Change Pay" says 9 major companies including AT&T, Cisco Systems and Hewlett-Packard agreed to revise their executive compensation guidelines seeking to preempt calls by lawmakers for limits on pay as was previously aggregated on this Blog.

HD $28.14 -0.09 0.32% 8,887,188 NYSE: No mentions found.

Intel INTC $19.54 -0.02 0.1% 35,877,351 NASDAQ-GS: WSJ pB1 "EU Shows its Cards Behind Intel Case - In Emails, PC Makers Feared Retaliation by chip Giant by Charles Forelle, Don Clark; NYT pB4 "Europe Says E-Mail shows Antitrust Violations by Intel" by James Kanter, Kevin J. O'Brien and Fin Times p20 "E-mails central to EU's case against Intel - watchdog makes evidence public" by Nikki Tait says outlining the evidence that triggered Europe's largest antitrust fine, regulators released emails showing big computer makers worried Intel wold punish them for using chips from a rival. The European Union levied a record $1.56 bil fine against Intel in May, alleging Intel abused its dominant position in the microprocessor market. Monday the EU published a 518 page doc that derailed its case.

Fin Times p26 "Fears of pull-back offset impact of Dell's $3.9bn deal" by Samantha Pearson, Michael Mackenzie says a $3.9bn deal by Dell was not enough to lift US stocks out of the red yesterday, as investors grew wary of a pullback. Last week, Wall Street rallied to 11 month highs on encouraging economic data and higher commodity prices. But after metals retreated and oil sunk below $70 a barrel, materials and energy stocks yesterday dragged the market lower from the opening bell. ExxonMobil lost 0.6%. Intel lost 0.1% after EU regulators released details of he alleged antitrust abuses that led to Intel's $1.6bn fine in May. Morgan Stanley raised its price target on GE to $19 from $17, saying GE has been largely ignored by investors over the past 2 years due to high profile mistakens and embarrassments at its sub, NBC Universal.

IBM $121.57 -0.54 0.44% 4,476,073 NYSE: WSJ pA1 "Dell To Buy Perot In Catch-Up Deal" by Justin, Scheck, Ben Worthen, Jerry A. Dicolo and Fin Ttimes p16 "Dell in $3.9bn move for Perot by Alan Rappeport, Joseph Menn says Dell Inc. agreed to buy Perot Systems Corp. for $3.9 bil, paying a big premium to catch-up with the big tech rivals that have been using the recession to expand beyond their traditional businesses. Perot sells information tech services to institutions. Dell will pay $30 per class A share, a 68% premium. This is Dell's biggest deal and moves it beyond its core pc business, where profits have shrunk. Combined with Dell's curent services, this combo would be an $8 bil a year tech services business and would compete better with IBM, Hewlett-Packard and others who sell email systems and back ofice computers.

JPMorgan Chase JPM $44.55 -0.40 0.89% 23,259,466 NYSE: WSJ pC3 "Wall Street's Key Hirings - Banks Bet on Asian hedge Funds, European Start-Ups" by Jenny Strasburg says Wall Street firms that attracted new hedge fund clients during the financial crisis are hiring aaint. Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and J.P. Morgan Chase benefited a eyr ago as hedge funds bailed fom banks they considered risky. Now the industry's worst troubles are believed behind it and banks are looking to get back into this business.

Fin Times p16 "BTA submits plans to rearrange debts" by Isabel Gorst, Anousha Sakoui says BTA, Kazakhstan's biggest bank, has submitted 2 proposals to renegotiate its $10.3bn to the country. JPMorgan is one of BTA's biggest creditors.

JNJ $60.67 -0.11 0.18% 7,181,999 NYSE: No mentions found.

Kraft KFT $26.75 +0.02 0.07% 10,609,421 NYSE: WSJ pB1 "Cadbury CEO Eases Talk About Bid From Kraft" by Cecilie Rohwedder, Ilan Brat says Cadbury's ceo acknowledged a combination with Kraft makes some strategic sense while Cadbury separately asked the UK takeover regulator to Kraft on notice that the suitor must formalize its bid soon. This will put pressure on Kraft to raise its $16.7 bil bid 2 weeks after taking public its proposal.

Fin Times p24 "Cocoa price surge signals bitter news for chocoholics - Production fears spur 24 year high - Concerns of lasting maket deficit" by Javier Bias, Jenny Wiggins says cocoa prices hit a 24 year high yesterday amid forecasts that consumption will outpace production in the crop year starting next month, raising fears that the cocoa market is entering its worst period of shortages in 40 years. This comes at a sensitive time for Cadbury which is trying to prove its viability as a stand alone company after rejecting Kraft's takeover offfer. Kraft claims it will be able to manage high cocoa costs better than Cadbury because it is a bigger company with $42 bn in annual sales.

MCD $56.14 -0.86 1.51% 9,785,414 NYSE: No mentions found.

Merck MRK $31.82 -0.06 0.19% 13,524,047 NYSE: IBD pB5 "Merck's Merger With schering Looks Good Now" by Patrick Cain says Merck, the $67 bil pharma company, bought Schering Plough on March 9 that was great timing because it was the market's ultimate low. Merck paid $45.1 bil for the then $28.8 bil valued firm. the deal should close in the fourth quarter. Cchering-Plough brings Merck a strong pipeline which is key for pharma companies. A big drug for Merck is expected to be Saphris, that treat schizophrenia.

Microsoft MSFT $25.3 +0.04 0.16% 28,700,520 NASDAQ-GS: WS pB5 "Bing Continues to Add Shares" says MSFT's new Bing search engine continued to take share from Google, grabbing 9.3% of the US Internet search market in Aug.

USA T pB1 "Microsoft takes notice as free Google Docs gains in popularity" by Byron Acohido says some big companies are starting to move their spreadsheets, word processing and other productivity programs off of PCs and on to the Web. This is good news for Google because many people are using Google Docs. Now MSFT said last week that Office Web Apps, lighweight versions of Office programs delivered through the browser, will enter a lmited technical preview. Office 2010 due early next year, will have versions that work on Web browsers and on Windows Mobile smartphones.

Pfizer PFE $16.64 +0.13 0.79% 35,681,120 NYSE: AJC pA12 "Pfizer, Wyeth to sell some assets to Boehringer" says PFE and Wyeth will sell animal vaccines, drugs and intellectual property to Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH to clear the way for Pfizer's pending $66.9 bil acquisition of Wyeth.

PG $57.1 -0.22 0.38% 11,585,784 NYSE: No mentions found.

MMM $74.54 -0.08 0.11% 2,536,138 NYSE: No mentions found.

TRV $47.79 +0.42 0.89% 4,881,507 NYSE: No mentions found.

UTX $62.67 -0.15 0.24% 3,669,643 NYSE: No mentions found.

Verizon VZ $29.49 -0.10 0.34% 20,097,891 NYSE: WSJ pA4 "Internet Providers Push Back Against Net Neutrality Proposal" by Amy Schatz, Fawn Johnson says phone and cable companies, including Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T, and Comcast criticized proposed rules that would prohibit Internet service providers from slowing competitors' Web traffic or impeding access to legal Web content. FCC Chrman Julius Genachowski in a speech Mon proposed expanding current guideliness on net neutrality by making them full fledged rules and extending them to wireless carriers. FCC's propsed 5 rules: Consumers are: enttiled: 1) to access any legal content; 2) to use any Internet app or service; 3) to connect to any device that won't hurt network; and 4) same rules apply to cable/DSL & wireless Intrent and 5) Internet provides can't block competitors' online services.

Related Editorial at WSJ pA24 "Bad News for Broadband" criticizes the FCC's move saying these net neutrality rules will discourage the type of investment on broadbank pipe such as AT&T spending $18 bil in '08.

WSJ pB5 Google's Phone Service Likely to Draw Scrutiny - System for Nanaging Calls and Messages Gains Attention as FCC Reconciles new Tech with Old Rules" by Fawn Johnson says the FCC is going to examine Google's new phone management service as the FCC tries to reconcile rotary phone era rules for iPhones and BlackBerrys. Google is letting consumers test its Google Voice service, which allows people to link all of their phones to a common number and manage calls and messages through a single Web site and use the service to send and receive calls and text messages. Traditional phone companies such as AT&T and Verizon Communications aren't allowed to block adult chat lines or free conference call centers and they will be upset if newer phone services like Google aren't given the same treatment. Several years ago, AT&t and others tried blocking calls to lines with inflated access charges and the FCC stopped them. Verizon, At&t & Sprint Nextel havee protested smaller carriers' ability to route popular numbers through high cost areas, forcing them to pay several times the average rate for connecting calls.

WalMart WMT $50.91 +0.80 1.6% 15,175,149 NYSE: IBD pB3 "Market's Rally Leaves Retailer In The Dust" by Ken Hoover says from humble beginnings in Rogers, Ark. in 1962, WalMart was one of the great growth stories of the last third of the 20th century. The stock hit an all time high Dec. 31, 1999. It hasn't participated int he rally that began in March. It is the world's biggest retailer, has 8,100 stores and does $400 billion in sales with 2.1 mil workers in 15 coutnries. WMT earned 0.88 a share last quarter, a 2% increase from the same period a year earlier.

Here are the latest SEC filings as of 9/17/09 other than ownership filings and, except for certain cases, I do not include third party shareholder proposals:

Symbol & Co. Name/Date of Filing/Form Filed/ Comments

T AT&T: 8/28/09 two 8K's, one: announcing it had reached agreement with the Communications Workers of America (on a new, three-year contract covering approximately 7,000 wireline employees (located across the U.S.) under the CWA Communications and Technologies contract, subject to approval by these employees. The second 8K said two subsidiaries of T provided redeemed certain long-term debt issues as of September 28, 2009.

Alcoa AA: 8/29/09 8K announcing that Alain J. P. Belda, executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of AA retired as an executive officer but is staying on as a director until April 23, 2010.

American Express AXP: 9/15/09 8K annoucing delinquency and write-off statistics for the lending portfolio of its U.S. Card Services operating segment for the months ended June 30, July 31 and August 31, 2009.

9/2/09 10Q;

Bank of Am BAC: 9/16/09 a free writing prospectus regarding issuance of $54 million in debt securities.

Boeing BA: 9/16/09 announcing that pursuant to a 1978 SEC settlement, BA informed the SEC of a change in its policy re the appointment of foreign consultants and to whom they report.

8/31/09 8K announcing the retirement of Scott E. Carson, Executive Vice President, President and Chief Executive Officer, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, effective January 1, 2010. Effective September 1, 2009, Mr. Carson will leave his current position and assume the role of Executive Vice President. Carson will be replaced by James F. Albaugh.

8/27/09 8K announcing a revised schedule for the 787 Dreamliner and a charge to third quarter earnings related to flight test aircraft.

Caterpiller CAT: 9/1509 8K announcing CAT and Navistar International Corporation (NYSE: NAV)formed a joint venture transaction resulting in a new company, NC2 Global LLC, to serve the global commercial truck market to be based in Chicago.

8/20/09 8K CAT filed Reg FD information concerning deliveries to users for its Machinery and Engines lines of business.

Chevron CVX: 8/6/09 10Q

Cisco CSCO: 9/11/09 10K

9/9/09 8K Cisco appointed Arun Sarin, former CEO of Vodafone Group Plc, to its Board of Directors. He will a $75,000 annual retainer, $2,000 per committee meeting attended, and 16,666 shares.

9/4/09 8K annoucing bonus payments for '09 fiscal year to: John T. Chambers, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, $2,031,000; Frank A. Calderoni, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, $900,000; Wim Elfrink, Executive Vice President, Cisco Services and Chief Globalization Officer, $1,000,000; Randy Pond, Executive Vice President, Operations, Processes and Systems, $900,000; and Richard J. Justice, former Executive Vice President, Worldwide Operations and Business Development and current Executive Vice President – Executive Advisor, $750,000.

Coke KO: 7/30/09 10Q

Disney DIS: 9/16 Prospectus related to the takeover of Marvel.

8/31/09 8K announcing a merger between its subsidiary, Maverick Acquisition Sub, Inc., and its subsidiary, Maverick Merger Sub, LLC, a single member Delaware limited liability company and Marvel Entertainment, Inc.. As a result of the Merger, Marvel will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney. Each share of Marvel common stock will be converted into $30 in cash and 0.7452 shares of Disney common stock.

DuPont DD: 8/13/09 8K announcing Nicholas C. Fanandakis, age 53, Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer & Chief Executive effective September 1, 2009 with an increase in annual salary from $387,708 to $500,000 and target short-term incentive award for 2009 will increase from $328,500 to $464,100. Mr. Fanandakis was named to his current position, Group Vice President- Applied BioSciences, in January 2008. Prior to that, he was vice president and general manager- DuPont Chemical Solutions Enterprise from September 2003 through September 2006 and vice president- Corporate Plans from October 2006 through December 2007. Jeffrey L. Keefer, EVP and Chief Financial Officer, will remain EVP and transition from the position of Chief Financial Officer to assume leadership responsibility for the DD's Performance Coatings business, corporate strategy development, Information Technology and overall cost and working capital productivity efforts effective November 1, 2009. Richard R. Goodmanson, EVP and Chief Operating Officer will retire effective September 30, 2009.

ExxonMobil XOM: 8/5/09 10Q

GE: 8/4/09 8K GE reached a settlement with the SEC & consented to a judgment of a fine of $50 million relating to four accounting matters arising in 2002 - 2003: the application of SFAS 133 to GE’s since-discontinued commercial paper hedging program and, separately, to certain swap derivatives where fees were paid or received at inception; a change in accounting for profits on spare parts in the commercial aviation engine business; and certain year-end transactions in the Rail business.

Hewlett-Packard HPQ: 9/17/09 8K On 9/17/09 HPQ elected Marc L. Andreessen as a dierctor and chair of the Technology Committee of the Board. Andreessen is a co-founder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm, and a co-founder and chairman of Ning, Inc., an online platform for people to create their own social networks. Andreessen co-founded Opsware Inc. & served as chief technology officer of America Online, Inc. and was a co-founder of Netscape Communications Corporation. Andreessen gets an retainer of $100,000, an annual equity retainer of $150,000, and $2,000 in cash for each Board meeting attended in excess of six per year. Mr. Andreessen also will be eligible to participate in the product matching portion of the HP Employee Giving Program under which each non-employee director may contribute up to $100,000 worth of HP products each year to a qualified charity by paying 25% of the list price of those products, with HP paying the remaining 75%. In addition, Mr. Andreessen will receive an annual retainer of $10,000 for service as the chair of the Technology Committee. HPQ also increased the number of HPQ directors from ten to eleven.

9/8/09 10-QA

9/4/09 10-Q

Home Depot HD: 9/3/09 10-Q

8/26/09 8K announcing amendments to their By-Laws dealing with resignations of directors.

Intel INTC: 9/16/09 An intranet article re the Stock Option Exchange Program.

9/15/09 8K Intel is consolidating all of its major product divisions into the newly formed Intel Architecture Group, which will be co-managed by Sean Maloney and David (Dadi) Perlmutter, executive vice presidents. Maloney will be responsible for business and operations while Perlmutter will lead product development and architecture. Paul Otellini, CEO, will devote more time to corporate strategy and driving the company’s growth initiatives. Intel’s global manufacturing organization, the Technology and Manufacturing Group will now report to Andy Bryant, Intel’s chief administrative officer. Pat Gelsinger and Bruce Sewell, General Counsel, will leave INTC.

8/28/09 8K announcing that as a result of stronger than expected demand for microprocessors and chipsets, Intel now expects revenue for the third quarter to be $9.0 billion, plus or minus $200 million, as compared to the previous range of $8.5 billion, plus or minus $400 million. The gross margin percentage for the third quarter is expected to be in the upper half of the previous range of 53 percent, plus or minus two percentage points. The company is scheduled to report its third-quarter financial results on Oct. 13.

IBM: 9/8/09 8K IBM representatives will be meeting with a number of institutional investors through mid-September.

7/28/09 10Q

JPMorganChase JPM: 9/17/09 prospectus reReverse Exchangeable Notes due December 21, 2009 Linked to Eight Equally Weighted Reference Stocks and in preceding days there were similar prospectuses.

9/2/09 Free Writing Prospectus relating to Core commodity C-IGAR Sigma Long-Short Index

Johnson & Johnson JNJ: 8/4/09 10Q

Kraft KFT: 9/9/09 prospectus relating to Kraft's bid to take over Cadbury that was announced on 9/7/09.

9/9/09 8K announcing a strategic update, including a review of the company’s successful three-year turnaround plan.

8/5/09 10Q

McDonalds MCD: 9/9/09 8K announcing that global comparable sales rose 2.2% in August and by segment performance was as follows: U.S. up 1.7%; Europe up 3.5%; andAsia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa declined 0.5%.

8/11/09 re: press release "McDonald’s Reports Global Comparable Sales Up 4.3% in July"

Merck MRK: 8/3/09 Sched 14A proxy material re: updated of acquisition of Schering-Plough

Microsoft MSFT: 9/11/09 8K James Cash to retire from Board of Directors. The
Harvard Business School professor and senior associate dean emeritus had served on the board since 2001. With Cash’s departure, the Microsoft board will have nine members: Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft; Steve Ballmer; Dina Dublon, former chief financial officer of JPMorgan Chase; Raymond V. Gilmartin, former chairman, president and chief executive officer of Merck & Co. Inc.; Reed Hastings, founder, chairman and CEO of Netflix Inc.; Maria M. Klawe, president, Harvey Mudd College; David F. Marquardt, general partner at August Capital; Charles H. Noski, former vice chairman of AT&T Corp.; and Dr. Helmut Panke, former chairman of the board of management at BMW AG.

8/24/09 S-8 Securities to be offered to employees in employee benefit plans

Pfizer PFE: 9/2/09 8K announcing an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to settle an investigation regarding off-label promotional practices related to Bextra, which Pfizer withdrew from the market in 2005 and other DOJ investigations involving off-label promotional practices concerning Zyvox, Geodon and Lyrica, and allegations related to payments to healthcare professionals involving these and nine other Pfizer medicines. Pfizer previously disclosed a related $2.3 billion charge to its fourth-quarter and full-year 2008 earnings in connection with the DOJ agreement in principle on January 26, 2009. PFE has reached agreements with attorneys general in 432 states to settle state civil consumer protection allegations regarding promotional practices concerning Geodon. PFE will pay a total of $33 million to the settling states.

Procter & Gamble PG: 9/10/09 8K confirmed its fiscal year 2010 and July – September quarter outlook for organic sales growth. The company also stated it expects to return to organic sales growth in the October – December quarter compared to prior year levels, following two quarters of organic sales declines. P&G also updated earnings per share guidance to include the anticipated impacts from the Pharmaceutical divestiture, which was announced on August 24, 2009. For fiscal year 2010, P&G confirmed previous guidance for organic sales growth of one to three percent. P&G expects net sales in the range of flat to up three percent versus prior year levels, which includes a foreign exchange impact of zero to minus one percent. P&G now expects fiscal 2010 earnings per share in the range of $3.99 to $4.12 per share. This includes a one-time net increase in earnings of $0.44 per share from the sale of the Pharmaceutical business, which will be partially offset by $0.10 to $0.12 per share of earnings dilution related to the transaction.

8/28/09 S-8 Securities to employees and 8/28 8K annoucning public offering of $500,000,000 aggregate principal amount of 3.150% Notes due 2015.
Also a PG subsidiary, Procter & Gamble International Funding SCA issued $1,000,000,000 aggregate principal amount of 1.350% Notes due 2011.

3M MMM: 8/5/09 3M contributed 8,329,862 shares of its common stock with a corresponding dollar value of approximately $600 million to its defined benefit pension plan, the 3M Employee Retirement Income Plan, made from treasury stock.

Travelers TRV: 8/5/09 10Q/A Amended 10Q

United Technologies UTX: 7/24/09 10Q

Verizon Communications Inc. VZ: 9/10/09 8K announcing VZ's cash flow and balance sheet are strong, and VZ recently increased its dividend for the third consecutive year. VZ is not planning for any economic improvements in the second half of 2009. Verizon expects that economic conditions will continue to pressure revenues and margins in the second half of 2009, particularly in its Wireline segment. VZ expects to add one million wireless customers per quarter for the next several quarters.
o The company expects to achieve its stated Alltel cost synergy targets & greater cash flow from operations in the second half of 2009 compared to the first half of 2009.

9/4/09 8K VZ raised its quarterly dividend 3.3% to 47.5 Cents per Share. This is the third consecutive year that VZ has approved a quarterly dividend increase in September.

9/4/09 8K annoucning retirement of Dennis F. Strigl, President and Chief Operating Officer of Verizon Communications Inc.

Wal-Mart WMT: 9/14/09 Prospectus re debt securities of $364,600,000

9/9/09 10Q

8/13/09 8K re 7/31/09 2Q report of earnings

Here are the CEOs of the Dow 30 Companies:

T Randall L. Stephenson
AA Klaus Kleinfeld
AXP Kenneth I. Chenault
BAC Kenneth D. Lewis
BA W. James McNerney, Jr.
CAT James W. Owens
CVX David O'Reilly
CSCO John Chambers
KO Muhtar Kent
DIS Rogert Iger
DD Ellen Kullman
XOM Rex W. Tillerson
GE Jeffrey R. Immelt
HPQ Mark Hurd
HD Frank Blake
INTC Paul S. Otellini
IBM Samuel J. Palmisano
JPM Jamie Dimon
JNJ William C. Weldon
KFT Irene Rosenfeld
MCD Jim Skinner
MRK Robert Clark
MSFT Steve Ballmer
PFE Jeffrey Kindler
PG Bob McDonald
MMM George W. Buckley
TRV Jay S. Fishman
UTX Louis Chenevert
VZ Ivan Seidenberg
WMT Mike Duke

Here are the Dow Jones Industrial Average 30 ranked in order of market capitalization rounded to the nearest billion as of 9/16/09:

1. Exxon Mobil XOM $345
2. Microsoft MSFT 225
3. WalMart WMT 193
4. GE 180
5. JPMorgan Chase 167
6. Johnson & Johnson JNJ 166
7. IBM 163
8. Procter & Gamble PG 161
9. AT&T T 156
10. Chevron CVX 145
11. Cisco CSCO 135
12. Coke KO 122
13. Pfizer PFE 111
14. Intel INTC 110
15. Bank of Am BAC 110
16. Hewlett-Packard HPQ 109
17. Verizon VZ 86
18. Merck MRK 68
19. McDonald's MCD 62
20. United Technologies UTX 58
21. Disney DIS 53
22. 3M MMM 53
23. Home Depot 48
24. American Express AXP 42
25. Kraft KFT 39
26. Boeing BA 38
27. Caterpillar CAT 33
28. DuPont DD 31
29. Traveler's TRV 28
30. Alcoa AA 14