10/24/09 Fri. Am Travelers Reports Strong Results

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Post #174 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 a list of the Dow 30 CEO's, a ranking of the Dow 30 by market capitalization as of close of 10/12/09 and an update of the Dow 30's most recent SEC filings as of 10/12/09.

A read of Friday's 10/23/09 print editions of: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Financial Times, Investors Business Daily, USA Today & Atlanta Journal Constitution 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 Monday's closing price and related data:

Dow: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Thursday at 10081.31 up 131.95 or 1.33% from Wedneday's close of 9949.36 and up 14.87% ytd. Of the 30 Dow Companies: 4 declined and 26 gained. The biggest gainer dollar-wise and percentage-wise was TRV $51.7 +3.68 7.66% 10,891,330 NYSE and the biggest decliner dollar-wise was Kraft KFT $27.11 -0.31 1.13% 11,075,223 NYSE and percentage-wise was GE $15.34 -0.19 1.22% 123,110,012 NYSE.

WSJ pC1 "Dow Rallies 135.95 Points; Euro at 1.50" by Matt Phillips says stocks resumed their march higher, led by financials reporting better than expected earnings. After two days of losses, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.3%. Travelers led the gains up 7.7% after reporting quarterly earnings that more than quadrupled.

WSJ pC5 "Travelers, 3M Help Push Dow Over 1000 by Georfrey Rogow says Travelers, McDonald's and 3M paced another round of better than expected earnings reports and helped the Dow Jones Industrial Average surge more than 100 points. Charted under the "Good News . . ." is Travelers and says its 3Q profits more than quadrupled on lower catastrophic losses and improved investment returns.

Fin Times p22 "Amazon and Amex's strong results help spur blue chip gains" by Michael Mackenzie" says US equities reboudned from early losses yesterday, led by a surge in financials and some upbeat results from blue chip companies. Out with earnings after the bell was American Express and while 3Q income fell 25%, the result beat estimates and AXP reported fewer customer defaults. Also reporting was 3M which reported 3Q net income of $957 mil. Shares in McDonald'sjumped 2% after it recorded a rise of 5.9% ine earnings. AT&T saw earnings dip as rev dropped 1.6% as its landline biz continued to shrink. Travelers reported earnings of $1.65 per share and boosted its guidance; Merck's shares rose 0.6% as it earned $3.46 bil and WalMart shares dropped 0.3% on WalMart warnings of a tough Xmas with consumers delaying purchases.

Inv Bus. Daily pA1 "Stocks Post Gains, But Low volume Dampens Tone" by Paul Whitfield says stocks jogged ahead in slower vol Thurs. pausing from a recent bout of distribution days.

NYT pB8 "Trading Gains on Profits Despite Job Loss Reports" by Javier C. Hernandez says stocks moved upward on Thurs, riding momentum from stronger than expected earnings reports despite a round of jobless figures that showed persistent weakness in the labor market.

USA Today p4B "Stocks dance a jig to upbeat earnings" says stocks rose Thurs. as several companies' solid earnings lent credence to the idea that corproate profitability has stabilized.

Thursday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing numerator was 1333.95 up 17.46 from Thursday's closing Dow numerator of 1316.49. 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.

The current divisor for the Dow found at today's page C4 of The Wall St. Jrnl is .132319125 unchanged where it is also noted that as of market open Friday the Dow's trailing P/E ratio is 16.51 down from yesterday's 16.80 (year ago was nil), the P/E estimate is 16.02 unchanged (1 year ago it was 10.80), and the dividend yield is 2.77 down from yesterday's 2.81 (a year ago it was 3.74).

Now, if you divide the Dow numerator increase of 17.46 for Thursday by the divisor you get the increase of 131.95 in Thursday's Dow close.

The average closing price (the closing numerator divided by 30) of Thursday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was 44.47 up 0.59 from Wednesday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing price of 43.88. The median closing price of Thurssday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was 41.08 up 0.20 from Wednesday's Dow Jones median closing price of 39.88.

The highest closing price Thursday again was IBM $122.69 +1.82 1.51% 5,970,929 NYSE NYSE and the lowest closing price Thursday again was Alcoa AA $14.04 +0.22 1.59% 24,400,205 NYSE.

The lowest volume Thursday was United Technologies UTX $65.9 +0.50 0.76% 4,772,205 NYSE and the highest volume again was Bank of Am BAC $16.52 +0.01 0.06% 231,965,327 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 made $1,770.
($133,410 - $131,640)

AT&T T $26.1 +0.16 0.62% 43,367,386 NYSE: AJC pA20 and WSJ pB4 "AT&T net slips, but iPHone Adds Customers" by Roger Cheng, Niraj Sheth says T's 3Q earnings slipped 1.2% as rev from traditional land lines fell fasater than the company, could cut costs, but its wireless biz added a record number of iPHones to its network. AT&P posted earnings for 3Q of $3.2 bil or 54 cents a share, down from $3.23 bil, or 55 cents a share, a year earlier. Rev. dropped 1.6% to $30.86 bil. Rev from the wireless segment increased 8.2% as profits grew 41%. For the wireline segment, rev fell 7.1% and profit fell 30%. AT&T has been laying off workers to cut costs and has reduced its work force by 18,000 this year and now employs as of end of the year 302,660.

AT&T's results are also reported at Inv. Bus. Daily pA6 and NYT pB5.

WSJ pB1 "AT&T, Google Spar Over Web Rules" by Amy Schatz says Google and AT&T are marshaling political allies, lobbyists and in AT&T's case labor unions for a fight over proposed net neutrality rules that could affect tens fo billions of dollars in ivnestments needed to upgrade the US broadbank network, which lags in speed and affordability compared with some counties. On Thurs., the FCC made good on its promise to push new rules that would require Internet providers such as AT&T to deliver Web traffic without delay. That means cable and phone companies couldn't block or slow access to services from Google, Netflix or others that are a drain on their networks or could compete with them. But as the details of the new rules are hammered out in the next months, AT&T and Google are ramping up efforts to ensure the FCC doesn't impose rules that could hurt them.

Related story at Inv. Bus. Daily pA6 "FCC Votes To Begin Preparing Net Neutrality regs" says Google is pitted against AT&T, Verizon and Comcast regarding these rules.

Fin Times p22 "Amazon and Amex's strong results help spur blue chip gains" by Michael Mackenzie" says US equities reboudned from early losses yesterday, led by a surge in financials and some upbeat results from blue chip companies. Out with earnings after the bell was American Express and while 3Q income fell 25%, the result beat estimates and AXP reported fewer customer defaults. Also reporting was 3M which reported 3Q net income of $957 mil. Shares in McDonald's jumped 2% after it recorded a rise of 5.9% in earnings. AT&T saw earnings dip as rev dropped 1.6% as its landline biz continued to shrink. Travelers reported earnings of $1.65 per share and boosted its guidance; Merck's ahres rose 0.6% as it earned $3.46 bil and WalMart shares dropped 0.3% on WalMart warnings of a touch Xmas with consumers delaying purchases.

AA $14.04 +0.22 1.59% 24,400,205 NYSE: No mentions found.

American Express AXP $36.44 +1.34 3.82% 12,379,433 NYSE: WSJ pC1 "AmEx Chief Sees Reason For Hope, Cautiously" by Robin Sidel says American Express, a barometer of affluent consumer and corporate spending patterns, reported better than expected earnings and expressed confidence that the recession is ending even as credit card delinquencies and defaults remain unusually high. AXP's 3Q net income fell 21% to $640 mil, or 53 cents a share, down from $815 mil or 70 cents, a year earlier. Rev. fell 16% to $6.02 mil.

Also reported at NYT pB5.

Bank of America BAC $16.52 +0.01 0.06% 231,965,327 NYSE: WSJ pC10 "Unlocking the MSR Mystery" by Peter Eavis says MSRs are mortgage servicing rights that are assets that represent the estimated value today of future earnings from collecting mortgage payments. Their value can fluctuate sharply, reflecting mortgage prepayments through refinancings for instance. The lower the number of MSRs as a percentage of serviced loans the mroe conservative the bank looks. At 0.83%, Wells is lower than BofA at 1.02% and JP Morgan Chase at 1.24%.

WSJ pA1 Lead Story "Fed Hits Banks with Sweeping Pay Limits - Thousands of Firms Affected in Plan Meant to Discourage Risky Bets: Small-Town Institutions Pay for the Sins of Big Players" by Aaron Lucchett, David Enrich, Joann S. Lublin says the plan will impose steep pay cuts at 7 companies that got billions of gov aid including BofA Ken Lewis who is pictured with his famous scowl and a caption saying the pay cuts would knock down his comp 65.5%.

Related story at USA Today p1B.

WSJ pA5 in a realted story by Alistair MacDonald says Treasury officials called in banks including JPM at a meeting earlier this month that was contentious but where the banks agreed to the pay cut.

Similar story at Fin Times p1 "Fed pay rules to rein in risk taking" by Krishna Guha, Tom Braithwaite, Greg Farrell.

Related story at Inv. Bus. Daily pA1

BA $51.07 +0.44 0.87% 6,320,257 NYSE: No mentions found.

Catepillar CAT $58.74 +0.34 0.58% 11,285,572 NYSE: WSj pB5 "Catepillar Taps Insider as CEO" by Bob Tita says CAT says Douglas Oberhelman pres of its engine and services biz will succeed Chairman and CEO James Owens next year. Oberhelman, 56, will take on the CEO elect role Jan 1, overseeing a company forced to throttle back after a period of growth fueled by the global comodities boom and robust US housing construction. Owens is pictured smiling. He is an economist and one of the most vocal US execs on free trad and will retire in '10. Owens has been ceo for 6 years and started his career with the Peoria, Ill. company in '72 as a corporate economist.

CVX $77.29 +0.32 0.42% 12,487,713 NYSE: No mentions found.

CSCO $24.18 +0.22 0.92% 33,514,853 NASDAQ-GS: No mentions found.

KO $54.15 +0.08 0.15% 8,078,364 NYSE: No mentions found.

DIS $29.44 +0.21 0.72% 7,437,893 NYSE: No mentions found.

DD $34.05 +0.61 1.82% 7,103,049 NYSE: No mentions found.

XOM $74.44 +1.13 1.54% 25,635,001 NYSE: No mentions found.

GE $15.34 -0.19 1.22% 123,110,012 NYSE: No mentions found.

HPQ $48.32 +0.10 0.21% 9,106,125 NYSE: No mentions found.

HD $26.72 +0.40 1.52% 14,490,347 NYSE: No mentions found.

Intel INTC $20.12 +0.261 1.31% 65,910,999 NASDAQ-GS: WSJ pC1 "Galleon Case Prompts Firms to Plug Leaks - Intel Assures Clearwire on Confidential Data; Google Cuts Ties With Investor-Relations Firm" by Amol Sharma, Susan Pulliam says companies are moving to plug leaks and contain the damage from sweeping insider trading allegations disclosed last week in the Galleon Group case that had Galleon founder Raj Rajaratnam and an executive from each of Intel and IBM arrested last week. Intel corp. has assured Clearwire Corp. that info about Clearwire, a wireless Internet company, is being closely guarded amid allegations that an Intel exec tiped off Rajaratnam about a major Clearwire deal.

Related stories at WSJ pC3 "Terror Victims Sue Hedge-Fund Founder" by Evan Perez and "Filing Says Tipster Got Info From Ex-Moody's analyst" by Shefali Anand.

4 related Stories at Fin Times p3 by Brooke Masters, Justin Baer, Joanna Chung, Sam Jones, Joanna Chung.

Fin Times p17 "Microsoft launches Windows 7" says Paul Otellini, Intel CEO predicted that companies would soon start buying PCs again.

IBM $122.69 +1.82 1.51% 5,970,929 NYSE : WSJ pC1 "Galleon Case Prompts Firms to Plug Leaks - Intel Assures Clearwire on Confidential Data; Google Cuts Ties With Investor-Relations Firm" by Amol Sharma, Susan Pulliam says companies are moving to plug leaks and contain the damage from sweeping insider trading allegations disclosed last week in the Galleon Groud case that had Galleon founder Raj Rajaratnam and an executive from each of Intel and IBM arrested last week. Intel corp. has assured Clearwire Corp. that info about Clearwire, a wireless Internet company, is being closely guarded amid allegations that an INtel exec tiped off Rajaratnam about a major Clearwire deal.

Related stories at WSJ pC3 "Terror Victims Sue hedge-Fund Founder" by Evan Perez and "Filing Says Tipster Got Info From Ex-Moody's analyst" by Shefali Anand.

4 related Stories at Fin Times p3 by Brooke Masters, Justin Baer, Joanna Chung, Sam Jones, Joanna Chung.

J.P. Morgan Chase JPM $45.71 +1.06 2.37% 31,321,840 NYSE: WSJ pC10 "Unlocking the MSR Mystery" by Peter Eavis says MSRs are mortgage servicing rights that are assets that represent the estimated valuej today of future earnings from collecting mortgage payments. Their value can fluctuate sharply, reflecting mortgage prepayments through refinancings for instance. The lower the numbers of MSRs as a percentage of serviced loans the mroe conservative the bank looks. At 0.83%, Wells is lower than BofA at 1.02% and JP Morgan Chase at 1.24%.

WSJ pC10 "Overheard" says JPM is changing the name of its "structured credit sales and marketing" group to the "cross-asset origination & structuring" or CADS for short.

WSJ pA1 Lead Story "Fed Hits Banks with Sweeping Pay Limits - Thousands of Firms Affected in Plan Meant to Discourage Risky Bets: Small-Town Institutions Pay for the Sins of Big Players" by Aaron Lucchett, David Enrich, Joann S. Lublin says the plan will impose steep pay cuts at 7 companies that got billions of gov aid including BofA Ken Lewis who is pictured with his famous scowl and a caption saying the pay cuts would knock down his comp 65.5%.

WSJ pA5 in a related story by Alistair MacDonald says Treasury officials called in banks including JPM at a meeting earlier this month that was contentious but where the banks agreed to the pay cut.

Similar story at Fin Times p1 "Fed pay rules to rein in risk taking" by Krishna Guha, Tom Braithwaite, Greg Farrell.

JNJ $60.94 +0.63 1.04% 9,814,042 NYSE: No mentions found.

Kraft KFT $27.11 -0.31 1.13% 11,075,223 NYSE: "Cadbury wild card as Peltz gagging deal expires" by Jonathan Birchall, Julie Macintosh says a wild card is set to be thrown into the battle by Kraft to acquire Cadbury with the expiry today of an agreement by shareholder Nelson Peltz to refrain from publicly criticising Kraft.

McDonald's MCD $59.5 +1.17 2.01% 24,510,611 NYSE: WSJ pB4 item by Paul Ziobro says McDoanld's 3Q earnings rose 5.9% helped by strong Sept. sales. Its US operations delivered 6% earnigns growth, aided by its Angus burgers and McCafe espresso drinks. Its profit was $1.26 bil, although rev decreased 4% to $6.05bil on currency changes. Sales at stores open at least 13 months rose 3.8% globally, with gains registered in Europe, Asia and the US. Operating margin for the quarter rose to 31.9% from 29.1% a year earlier, as pressure from commmodies prices eased.

NYT pB2 "McDonald's Beats Analysts' Estimates" says demand was up in all regions for MCD.

WSJ pC5 "Travelers, 3M Help Push Dow Over 1000 by Georfrey Rogow says Travelers, McDonald's and 3M paced another round of better than expected earnings reports and helped the Dow Jones Industrial Average surge more than 100 points. Charted under the "Good News . . ." is Travelers and it say its 3Q profits more than quadrupled on lower catastrophic losses and improved investment returns.

Fin Times p22 "Amazon and Amex's strong results help spur blue chip gains" by Michael MacKenzie" says US equities rebound from early losses yesterday, led by a surge in financials and some upbeat results from blue chip companies. Out with earnings after the bell was American Express and while 3Q income fell 25%, the result beat estimates and AXP reported fewer customer defaults. Also reporting was 3M which reported 3Q net income of $957 mil. Shares in McDonald'sjumped 2% after it recorded a rise of 5.9% ine earnings. AT&T saw earnings dip as rev dropped 1.6% as its landline biz continued to shrink. Travelers reported earnings of $1.65 per share and boosted its guidance; Merck's shares rose 0.6% as it earned $3.46 bil and WalMart shares dropped 0.3% on WalMart warnings of a touch Xmas with consumers delaying purchases.

Merck MRK $32.87 +0.19 0.58% 24,139,063 NYSE: WSJ pB4 "Merck Profit Jumps as Sales Inch Up - Results Are Lifted by Stake Sale, While Schering, Bristol Earnings Drop" by Peter Loftus, Jay Miller says Merck & Co.'s 3Q profit more than tripled on gains from the sale of the drug maker's stake in an animal health joint venture, while a continued rebound in a blockbuster astham drug helped sales inch higher. The drug is Singular. Merck's net income was $3.4 bi, or $1.61 a share, up from $1.09 bil or 51 cents a share a year earlier. The latest quarter included a gain of $1.7 bil from Merck's sale of its 50% interest in the Merial animal health jv to Sanofi-Aventis SA.

Similar story at Fin Times p14 "Cost cuts boy drug grops' profits but sales gain remain modest" by Shannon Bond, Haig Simonian. Similar story at NYT pB2.

Merck results were also reported at Inv. Bus. Daily pA2.

Fin Times p22 "Amazon and Amex's strong results help spur blue chip gains" by Michael Mackenzie" says US equities reboudned from early losses yesterday, led by a surge in financials and some upbeat results from blue chip companies. Out with earnings after the bell was American Express and while 3Q income fell 25%, the result beat estimates and AXP reported fewer customer defaults. Also reporting was 3M which reported 3Q net income of $957 mil. Shares in McDonald'sjumped 2% after it recorded a rise of 5.9% ine arnings. AT&T saw earnings dip as rev dropped 1.6% as its landline biz continued to shrink. Travelers reported earnings of $1.65 per share and boosted its guidance; Merck's ahres rose 0.6% as it earned $3.46 bil and WalMart shares dropped 0.3% on WalMart warnings of a touch Xmas with consumers delaying purchases.

Microsoft MSFT $26.59 +0.01 0.04% 60,261,092 NASDAQ-GS: WSJ pB1 "Ballmer Tries Bringing Back Microsoft's Mojo" by Nick Wingfield says MsFT CEO Steve Ballmer has presided over some tought times at Microsfot. On Thurs., the 53 year old CEO got a chance to relish in the good news of the launch of the Windows 7 oeprating system which comes out at a critical tine. Flaws in the last verion of the product, Windows Vista, battered Microsoft's reputation then the recession crushed spenidng on tech and triggered Microsfot's first decline in annual rev and first layoffs. Ballmer who took over from Gates in '00 is interviewed and is pictured with hand on hips and belly overhanding a belt looking like Ace Greenberg but you have to love a guy who drives on Fords in honor of his Dad who worked at Ford for 30 years and who delivered a 10 minute speech in French at the opning of a Microsoft office in Paris.

Related stories at Fin Times p17 "Microsoft launches Windows 7" with a large photo of Ballmer looking as if he is describing the fish that got away & Inv Bus. Daily pA6 by Patrick Seitz with a photo of Ballmer givings a laptop to a 5 year old. Also story says Paul Otellini, Intel CEO predicted that companies would soon start buying PCs again.

PFE $17.56 +0.15 0.86% 55,785,125 NYSE: No mentions found.

Procter & Gamble PG $58.13 +0.64 1.11% 10,045,288 NYSE: WSJ pB2 "P&G eyes Sara Lee Uit" by Ellen Byron, Dana Cimillusa says PG is interested in buying part of Sara Lee Corp.s internat'l household products unit. P&G, the Cincinnati based maker of Crest, Tide and Febreze odor remover wants to buy Sara Lee's air freshener business which includes the Ambi Purbrand.

3M MMM $78.79 +2.46 3.22% 7,115,532 NYSE: WSJ pB4 item by Joan E. Solsman say 3M's 3Q earnings fell 3.4% from a year earlier, but the result beat analysts' estiamtes and the diversified manufacturer raised its full year outlook. 3M makes Scotch tape, Post-It, furnace filters and power liens. Its profit for 3Q was $957 mil, or $1.35 a share and now expects earnings of 4.50 to $4.55 a share for the full year; in July 3M projected $4.10 to $4.30. Rev fell 5.6% to $6.19 bil.

WSJ pC5 "Travelers, 3M Help Push Dow Over 1000 by Georfrey Rogow says Travelers, McDonald's and 3M paced another round of better than expected earnings reports and helped the Dow Jones Industrial Average surge more than 100 points. Charted under the "Good News . . ." is Travelers and it says its 3Q profits more than quadrupled on lower catastrophic losses and improved investment returns.

Fin Times p22 "Amazon and Amex's strong results help spur bluce chip gains" by Michael Mackenzie" says US equities reboudned from early losses yesterday, led by a surge in financials and some upbeat results from blue chip companies. Out with earnings after the bell was American Express and while 3Q income fell 25%, the result beat estimates and AXP reported fewer customer defaults. Also reporting was 3M which reported 3Q net income of $957 mil. Shares in McDonald'sjumped 2% after it recorded a rise of 5.9% ine arnings. AT&T saw earnings dip as rev dropped 1.6% as its landline biz continued to shrink. Travelers reported earnings of $1.65 per share and boosted its guidance; Merck's ahres rose 0.6% as it earned $3.46 bil and WalMart shares dropped 0.3% on WalMart warnings of a touch Xmas with consumers delaying purchases.

Travelers TRV $51.7 +3.68 7.66% 10,891,330 NYSE: WSJ pC1 "Dow Rallies 135.95 Points; Euro at 1.50" by Matt Phillips says stocks resumed their march higher, led by financials reporting better than expected earnings. After two days of losses, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.3%. Travelers led the gains up 7.7% after reporting quarterly earnings hat mroe than quadrupled.

Fin Times p22 "Amazon and Amex's strong results help spur bluce chip gains" by Michael Mackenzie" says US equities reboudned from early losses yesterday, led by a surge in financials and some upbeat results from blue chip companies. Out with earnings after the bell was American Express and while 3Q income fell 25%, the result beat estimates and AXP reported fewer customer defaults. Also reporting was 3M which reported 3Q net income of $957 mil. Shares in McDonald'sjumped 2% after it recorded a rise of 5.9% ine arnings. AT&T saw earnings dip as rev dropped 1.6% as its landline biz continued to shrink. Travelers reported earnings of $1.65 per share and boosted its guidance; Merck's ahres rose 0.6% as it earned $3.46 bil and WalMart shares dropped 0.3% on WalMart warnings of a touch Xmas with consumers delaying purchases.

WSJ pC5 "Travelers, 3M Help Push Dow Over 1000 by Georfrey Rogow says Travelers, McDonald's and 3M paced another round of better than expected earnings reports and helped the Dow Jones Industrial Average surge more than 100 points. Charted under the "Good News . . ." is Travelers where it says its 3Q profits more than quadrupled on lower catastrophic losses and improved investment returns.

UTX $65.9 +0.50 0.76% 4,772,205 NYSE: No mentions found.

Verizon VZ $29.02 -0.01 0.03% 24,806,121 NYSE: NYT pB2 says Verizon Communications has a 55% stake in Verizon Wireless, the largest mobile phone company in the US with Vodafone owning the rest but the two have been fueding because Verizon Wirelss hasn't distributed dividends since '05 but Voafone but refuse to consent to acquisitions if Verizon Comm. doesn't agree to pay dividends.

WSJ pB1 "AT&T, Google Spar Over Web Rules" by Amy Schatz says Google and AT&T are marshaling political allies, lobbyists and in AT&T's case labor unions for a fight over proposed net neutrality rules that could affect tens fo billions of dollars in ivnestments needed to upgrade the US broadbank network, which lags in speed and affordability compared with some counties. On Thurs., the FCC made good on its promise to push new rules that would require Internet providers such as AT&T to deliver Web traffic without delay. That means cable and phone companies couldn't block or slow access to services from Google, Netflix or others that are a drain on their networks or could compete with them. But as the details of the new rules are hammered out in the next months, AT&T and Google are ramping up efforts to ensure the FCC doesn't impose rules that could hurt them.

Related story at Inv. Bus. Daily pA6 "FCC Votes To Begin Preparing Net Neutrality regs" says Google is pitted against AT&T, Verizon and Comcast regarding these rules.

Wal-Mart WMT $50.48 -0.15 0.3% 24,481,763 NYSE: WSJ pB1 "Georffrey A. Fowler says in a sign the holiday period cold be good to online retailers, Amazon.com Inc. posted a 69% increase in 3Q profits and offered a rosy outlook for the current quarter. These resutls precede a battle that's erupted with walMart which recently launched an online price war with Amazon and others over certain popular books. WalMart earlier set up its own third party sales platform and began offering low priced shipping on everyday items such as shampoo and diapers.

WSJ pB5 "Wal-Mart Sees Sales Gains" by Karen Talley, Mary Ellen Lloyd says WMT forecast a sharp slowing in sales growth this year, predicting a 1% to 2% increase for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31 compared with a 7.2% gain in the prior year. It expects a rebound in its next fiscal year with sales rising 4 to 6%. This year's cap spending is projected at between $12.5 bil and $13.1 bil, up from about $11.5 bil in fiscal '09.

Also reported at Inv. Bus. Daily at pA2.

WSJ pB5 "Booksellers Ask Justice Dept. to Investigate War Over Pricing" by Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg says the American Booksellers Assoc. ahs ased DOJ to investigate the price war under way between WMT, amazon.com and Target to determine if it is illegal predatory pricing.

Fin Times p22 "Amazon and Amex's strong results help spur blue chip gains" by Michael Mackenzie" says US equities reboudned from early losses yesterday, led by a surge in financials and some upbeat results from blue chip companies. Out with earnings after the bell was American Express and while 3Q income fell 25%, the result beat estimates and AXP reported fewer customer defaults. Also reporting was 3M which reported 3Q net income of $957 mil. Shares in McDonald's jumped 2% after it recorded a rise of 5.9% ine arnings. AT&T saw earnings dip as rev dropped 1.6% as its landline biz continued to shrink. Travelers reported earnings of $1.65 per share and boosted its guidance; Merck's ahres rose 0.6% as it earned $3.46 bil and WalMart shares dropped 0.3% on WalMart warnings of a touch Xmas with consumers delaying purchases.

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Here are the CEOs of the Dow 30 Companies:

T Randall L. Stephenson
AA Klaus Kleinfeld
AXP Kenneth I. Chenault
BAC Kenneth D. Lewis (on 10/1 he announced his resignation as of year-end).
BA W. James McNerney, Jr.
CAT James W. Owens who will be replaced by Douglas Oberhelman in 2010.
CVX David O'Reilly who will be replaced by John Watson at year end.
CSCO John Chambers
KO Muhtar Kent
DIS Robert 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 10/12/09:

1. Exxon Mobil XOM $337
2. Microsoft MSFT 229
3. WalMart WMT 191
4. JPMorgan Chase 181
5. GE 174
6. Johnson & Johnson JNJ 172
7. Procter & Gamble PG 168
8. IBM 167
9. Bank of Am BAC 156
10. At&t T 151
11. Chevron CVX 148
12. Cisco CSCO 137
13. Coke KO 127
14. Pfizer PFE 115
15. Intel INTC 114
16. Hewlett-Packard HPQ 112
17. Verizon VZ 82
18. Merck MRK 69
19. McDonald's MCD 62
20. United Technologies UTX 58
21. Disney DIS 53
22. 3M MMM 52
23. Home Depot 46
24. American Express AXP 42
25. Kraft KFT 39
26. Boeing BA 38
27. Caterpillar CAT 33
28. DuPont DD 30
29. Traveler's TRV 28
30. Alcoa AA 14

Here are the latest SEC filings as of 10/12/09 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: 10/2/09 11K Annual Report of employee stock purchase plan.

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 AT&T redeemed certain long-term debt issues as of September 28, 2009.

Alcoa AA: 10/8/09 announcing financial results for the third quarter.

7/29/09 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: 10/2/09 8K announcing departure of Alfred F. Kelly, Jr., as Pesident and head of AXP Global Consumer Group as of 4/10/09.

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: 10/9/09 several free writing prospectus regarding issuance of securities.

Boeing BA: 10/9/09 8K announcing the election to the Board and Audit & Fin. Committee of retired Admiral Edmund P. Giambastiani, Jr. former Vice-Chair of Joint Chiefs of Staff '05- '07.

10/6/09 8K announcing a charge to third quarter earnings in connection with delays in the 747-8 program.

9/15/09 8K 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: 10/5/09 8K announcing price changes on most machines worldwide effective Jan. '10.

9/23/09 8K announcing a new credit agreement with The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd., that provides for an unsecured aggregate revolving credit facility up to $2.38 billion that serves as an alternative source of funds, if necessary, for CAT's commercial paper programs.

9/21/09 8K furnishing supplemental information concerning deliveries to users for its Machinery and Engines lines of business. Caterpillar sells the majority of its machinery and engines to independently owned and operated dealers and Original Equipment Manufacturers to meet the demands of their customers, the end users. Retail Sales of Machines by marketing region for the 3-month rolling period compared with the same months of the prior year were down significantlly.

9/15/09 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.

Chevron CVX: 10/8/09 8K announcing third quarter interim financial results.

9/30/09 8K announcing the retirement of CEO David J. OReilly who is being replaced by John S. Watson and the election to the Board as Vice-Chairman of George L. Kirkland.

8/6/09 10Q

Cisco CSCO: 10/5/09 8K announcing its offer to buy the Norwegian fimr Tandberg ASA for $3 bil.

9/23/09 Proxy Statement in connection with its Annual Meeting to be held 11/12/09.

9/11/09 10K.

9/9/09 8K Cisco appointed Arun Sarin, former CEO of Vodafone Group Plc, to its Board of Directors.

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; Willaim 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: 9/22/09 Form S-4 Proxy and 9/16/09 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: 10/7/09 8K regulation FD disclosure regarding comments made by Executive Vice President Mark Vergnano who said DuPont would return to its level of '08 profitability in 2 and a half years.

9/29/09 and 8/13/09 8Ks announcing Nicholas C. Fanandakis, age 53, Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer 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: 9/24/09 8K saying at its Securities Analyst Meeting, HPQ addressed how it is uniquely positioned to grow and expand in the global information technology market. “We expect the IT industry to return to growth in 2010 and believe that HP will outpace the market,” said Mark Hurd, CEO.

9/17/09 8K announcing the election of 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

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: 10/8/09 amended the 9/21/09 tender offer regarding exchange of some of its stock options with its employees.

9/15/09 8K Intel announcing Intel's consolidation of 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.

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

7/28/09 10Q

JPMorganChase JPM: 10/9/09 Various free writing prospectus re: issuance of securities.

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

Kraft KFT: 10/6/09 8K announcing the promotion of Kim H. Jones, 49, to VP & Corp. Controller.

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: 9/25/09 8K announcing a quarterly cash dividend of .55 cents per share payable 12/15/09.

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: 9/21/09 8K announcing that the acquisition by Sanofi-aventis of Merck’s 50percent interest in Merial Limited (Merial) has been completed. Sanofi-aventis acquired Merck’s interest in Merial for a cash consideration of $4 billion. Formed in 1997, Merial is a leading animal health company that was a 50/50 joint venture between Merck and sanofi-aventis and is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of sanofi-aventis.

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

Microsoft MSFT: 10/6/09 Proxy Statement regarding the Shareholders Annual Meeting to be held in Bellevue, Washington on 11/19/09.

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: 9/24/09 8K announcing the expansion of the Board to 14 members pursuant to the agreement to merge with Wyeth and electing two Wyeth directors to the newly expanded Board: Frances D. Fergusson and John P. Mascotte.

9/24/09 11-K Annual Report of Employee Stock Option Plan.

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: 11K Annual Report of Employee Stock Purchase Plan.

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: 8K 9/11/09 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.
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: 8K 9/18 Pricing agreement re: the 9/16 filed prospectus relating to $1 bil of Euro Note Offering at 4.875%

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