Monday, November 2, 2009

11/2/09 Mon. am Cisco May Walk from Tandberg

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

Post #190 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 10/28/09 and an update of the Dow 30's most recent SEC filings as of 10/12/09.

A read of Monday's 1/2/09 print editions of: Wall St. Journal, Financial Times, New York Times & 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 Friday's closing price and related data:

Dow: USA Today p1B "Stock slide sparks fears of possible correction" by Adam Shell says a stock market swoon of nearly 6% in the past 2 weeks has Wall St. wondering if its recent winning strategy of buying stocks when prices dips is coming to an end. The buy the dips trade has worked particularly well since the beginning of Aug, when the latest up leg of the bull market began. Prior to the current pullback, the market suffered three sharp dips, only to rebound and make new highs. Buy after Fri's nealry 3% sell off, the market's biggest one day slide since July, there is growing concern that the current weakness could morph into the first official correction, defined as a drop of 10% or more, since the bull began in March.

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 Monday the Dow's trailing P/E ratio is 16.74 down from Friday's 16.75 (year ago was nil), the P/E estimate is 15.68 down from Friday's 16.03 (1 year ago it was 10.97), and the dividend yield is 2.88 up from Friday's 2.81 (a year ago it was 3.45).

AT&T T $25.67 -0.56 2.13% 40,634,805 NYSE: No mentions found.

Alcoa AA $12.42 -0.58 4.46% 45,728,545 NYSE: No mentions found.

American Express AXP $34.84 -1.60 4.39% 12,940,869 NYSE: No mentions found.

Bank of America BAC $14.58 -1.15 7.31% 303,096,826 NYSE: WSJ pC1 "BNY Mellon CEO Kelly Tells BofA: No, Thanks" by Dan Fitzpatrick, Robin Sidel says Bank of NY Mellon Corp. CEO Robert Kelly recently was approached about becoming the next CEO of BofA but he has shown no interest in the job. BofA Kenneth D. Lewis, 62 years old, is retiring at year end. BofA is under pressure to look at external candidates who have no ties to the problems dogging the bank.

WSJ pC8 "Investing in Banks? check Loss Buffers" by Peter Eavis says bank stocks have rallied sharply since the spring, but there's still a way to make money in the sector: Buy the lenders that really have protected themselves against bad loans. If a bank has a strong reserve against credit losses today, its earnings are likely to recovery much more quickly than at less-girded peers. Additions to a bad loan reserve, called provisions, are an expense that has recently been killing banks results. Over the past 12 months, provisions took $157 bil out of earnings at Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, PNC Financial and US Bankcorp. That's roughty $120 bil more than they might annually set aside in a healty economy. JP organ dows well on many emasures of reserve strent but Bank of America does not.

Boeing BA $47.8 -1.01 2.07% 8,610,433 NYSE: No mentions found.

Caterpillar CAT $55.06 -2.19 3.83% 11,906,442 NYSE: No mentions found.

Chevron CVX $76.54 1.41 1.81% 19,335,340 NYSE: WSJ pB6 "Chevron net Declined 51% in Quarter" by Isabel Ordonex says Chevron reported a 51% drop in 3Q profit on lower oil and natural gas prices, but the results bested analysts' expectations thanks to a jump in output and a sharp cut in operating costs. The 2nd alrgest US oil company by market value after Exxon Mobil Corp. reported Fri. a profit of $3.83 bil, or $1.92 a share, down from $7.89 bil, or $3.85 a share, a year earlier. Although CVX's results were better than expected, its profits still felt the pinch of lower oil and natural gas prices that helped reduce the 3Q earnings of ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips by 68% and 71% respectively. In the US, Chevron's average sales price per barrel of crude oil and in the 3Q was about $60 compared with $107 a year ago. The average sales price of natural gas was $3.28 pe thousand cubic feet, down from $8.64 in last year's 3Q.

Cisco CSCO $22.81 -0.71 3.02% 58,690,614 NASDAQ-GS: NYT pB2 "Cisco's Run of Spending" by Robert Cyran says Cisco has spent the last decade buying rivals and buying back stock but this strategy isn't working. Investors who bought Cisco's shares a decade ago have received no return on thier investment. Cisco reports earnings on Wed. Araticle says Cisco may walk away from Tandberg because minority investors want more money.

WSJ pA1 "Cisco Systems is expected to post results on Wed., Nov. 4.

NYT pB3 also notes Cisco will report earnings on Wed.

Coca-Cola KO $53.31 -0.78 1.44% 10,541,293 NYSE: USA Today p3B says on CNBC Nov. aa, at opm et, there is a program "Coca-Cola: The Real Story behind the Real Things that will show unique if disparate footage to illustrate how KO aims to expand its reach and devlepe the next billion dollar beverage. It features a visit to Coke's vast secret archives, a memorabilia collection that is valued at $60 mil on KO's books.

Disney DIS $27.37 -0.77 2.74% 12,704,394 NYSE: WSJ pB1 "For "Princess," Disney Returns To Traditional Animation Style" by Ethan Smith says "The Princess and the Frog." Disney's first hand animated feature film in nearly 6 years, is a gamble by the studio that audiences will respond to the traditional medium of Mickey Mouse in an era when animation is dominated by slick computer generated fare from Pixar Animation and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. Pixar cofounders John Lasseter and Ed Catmull have overseen Disney Animation since '06 when Disney bought their company for $7.4 bi. Dis in '03 announced it was abandoning traditional animation in favor of computer generated imagery after a sting of hand drawn flops that included "Treasure Planet" and "Brother Bear".

DuPont DD $31.82 -1.15 3.49% 10,300,450 NYSE: No mentions found.

Exxon Mobil XOM $71.67 -2.29 3.1% 31,338,416 NYSE: WSJ pB6 "Chevron net Declined 51% in Quarter" by Isabel Ordonex says Chevron reported a 51% drop in 3Q profit on lower oil and natural gas prices, but the results bested analysts' expectations thanks to a jump in output and a sharp cut in operating costs. The 2nd alrgest US oil company by market value after Exxon Mobil Corp. reported Fri. a profit of $3.83 bil, or $1.92 a share, down from $7.89 bil, or $3.85 a share, a year earlier. Although CVX's results were better than expected, its profits still felt the pinch of lower oil and natural gas prices that helped reduce the 3Q earnings of ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips by 68% and 71% respectively. In the US, Chevron's average sales price per barrel of crude oil and in the 3Q was about $60 compared with $107 a year ago. The average sales price of natural gas was $3.28 pe thousand cubic feet, down from $8.64 in last year's 3Q.

GE $14.26 -0.61 4.1% 128,128,557 NYSE: NYT pB4 "GE Tries to Link Health Records" by Steve Lohr says GE's big health care division is introducing on Thurs. a new unit, eHealth, to pursue the business opportunity presented by the challenge of digital healty records which will result in better care and reduce spending. The main goal for GE's new biz unit is providing the technology and expertise to build regional and statewide health infor exchanges as these planned data sharing hubs are now being called. An initial $564 mil grant from the fed gove to the states will provide seed money to get things started.

Hewlett-Packard HPQ $47.46 -0.89 1.84% 16,342,611 NYSE: No mentions found.

Home Depot HD $25.09 -0.82 3.16% 19,108,101 NYSE: No mentions found.

Intel INTC $19.11 -0.11 0.57% 89,931,251 NASDAQ-GS: No mentions found.

IBM $120.61 -2.26 1.84% 7,468,911 NYSE: No mentions found.

J.P. MorganChase JPM $41.77 -2.58 5.82% 56,824,000 NYSE: WSJ pC8 "Investing in Banks? check Loss Buffers" by Peter Eavis says bank stocks have rallied sharply since the spring, but there's still a way to make money in the sector: Buy the lenders that really have protected themselves against bad loans. If a bank has a strong reserve against credit losses today, its earnings are likely to recovery much more quickly than at less-girded peers. Additions to a bad loan reserve, called provisions, are an expense that has recently been killing banks results. Over the past 12 months, provisions took $157 bil out of earnings at Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, PNC Financial and US Bankcorp. That's roughty $120 bil more than they might annually set aside in a healty economy. JP organ dows well on many emasures of reserve strent but Bank of America does not.

Fin Times fm section p2 "JPMAM to aim at direct clients" by Pauline Skypala says JPMorgan Asset Management is to launch a platffform aimed at its 150,000 direct investors in the UK at the end of Nov to be named Wealthmanager. It will provide access to JPM's investment trusts and mutual funds and to funds from other fund management gorups.

NYT pB5 says Denbury Resources, an oil and natural gas producer would buy Encore Acquisition for $4.5 bil, JPMorgan Securities advised Denbury.

Johnson & Johnson JNJ $59.05 -0.81 1.35% 20,502,496 NYSE: No mentions found.

Kraft KFT $27.52 -0.03 0.11% 16,662,555 NYSE: Fin Times p18 "Kraft poised to report strong results before deciding on Cadbury bid" by Jenny Wiggins says Kraft is poised to report strong 3Q results Tues. as it tries to win over investors before proceeding with a formal takeover offer worth more than $16.4 bil for Cadbury, the UK confectionery firm. Kraft is considering a formal bid for Cadbury before a UK Takeover Panel deadline on Nov. 9, could beat consensus earnings expectations of 48 cents per diluted share.

NYT pB3 also notes Kraft will report earnings on Tues.

WSJ B1 "Nestle Focuses on Long Term" by Deborah Ball interviews Nestle CEO Paul Bulckle. After several years of healthy growth, Nestle's sales hit the brakes this year, lagging behind rivals such as Unilever and Damone S.A. Meanwhile, Kraft Foods Inc.'s $17 bil bid for U.K. chocolate maker Cadbury PLC has thrown an unwanted spotlight on Nestle's confectionery business, historically one of its weakest areas. Kraft's offer led many to wonder if the Swiss food giant would launch a rival bid for Cadbury in order to strengthen its chocoalte business.

McDonald's MCD $58.61 -0.53 0.9% 9,648,162 NYSE: No mentions found.

Merck MRK $30.93 -0.38 1.21% 38,398,628 NYSE: No mentions found.

Microsoft MSFT $27.73 -0.49 1.74% 70,068,128 NASDAQ-GS: Fin Times p14 in an item about Yahoo says its shares have been left behind in the tech rally and balmes part of it to its agreement to outsource that data-crunching technological side of search to Microsoft.

Pfizer PFE $17.03 -0.52 2.96% 64,136,185 NYSE: Fin Times p18 "Pfizer backing for US health reform" by Andrew Jack says Jeffrey Kindler, CEO of Pifzier, who is pictured looking serenely out a window expressed confidence that US healtcare reform would be approved by the end of this year and praised the senate finance committee's latest draft in spite of the extra costs it would impose on his firm the world's laragest pharma company. Pfizer just completed a $68 bil takeover of Wyeth. It now has a far broader and more divesified range of businesses from neonatal nutrients to Alzheimer's." Once the firm's leading drug, Lipitor to lower cholesterol, goes off patent in 2011, Kindler said no single product would account for more than 10% of sales. It currently accounts for more than a quarter of revs.

Procter & Gamble PG $58 1.54 -2.59% 20,806,433 NYSE: No mentions found.

3M MMM $73.57 -1.91 2.53% 4,441,052 NYSE: No mentions found.

Travelers TRV $49.79 -2.12 4.08% 8,448,998 NYSE: No mentions found.

United Technologies UTX $61.45 -2.13 3.35% 7,806,407 NYSE: No mentions found.

Verizon VZ $29.59 -0.45 1.5% 24,037,315 NYSE: WSJ pA1 "Jittery Companies Stash Cash" by Tom McGinty, Cari Tuna says stung by the financial crisis, companies are holding more cash, and a greater percentage of assets in cash, than at anytime in the past 40 years. In 2Q, the 500 largest nonfiancial US firms, by total assets, held about $994 bil in cash and short term investments, or 9.8% of their assets up from $846 bil or 7.9% of assets, a year earlier. In a chart under "Telecom services" it says that telecom giant Verizon had a ratio of 1% cash to assets this quarter.

Wal-Mart WMT $49.68 -0.72 1.43% 17,244,801 NYSE: Fin Times p15 "Walmart eyes ruban expansion" by Jonathan Birchall says Walmart has stepped up efforts to mobilize local political support for new store openings in US cities and urban areas that were last month identified as a growth priority for the retailer by Mike Duke, its CEO. In addition to a renewed drive to open a second Supercenter store in Chicago, the retailer is also raising its political profile in Phil. and continuing to cultivate the ground for a potential move into NYC. Walmart has long faced political resistance to its plans in the largest US cities, largely orchestrated by the UFCW grocery workers' union and its political allies. Walmart, the largest US private employer, is strongly anti-union.

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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
10/28/09:
1. Exxon Mobil XOM $355
2. Microsoft MSFT 250
3. WalMart WMT 192
4. JPMorgan Chase 168
5. Procter & Gamble PG 167
6. Johnson & Johnson JNJ 164
7. IBM 159
8. At&t T 154
9. GE 153
10. Chevron CVX 152
11. Cisco CSCO 133
12. BAC 130
13. Coke KO 124
14. Pfizer PFE 116
15. Hewlett-Packard HPQ 111
16. Intel INTC 107
17. Verizon VZ 85
18. Merck MRK 68
19. McDonald's MCD 64
20. United Technologies UTX 59
21. 3M MMM 52
22. Disney DIS 51
23. Home Depot 43
24. American Express AXP 41
25. Kraft KFT 40
26. Boeing BA 34
27. Caterpillar CAT 34
28. DuPont DD 29
29. Travelers TRV 28
30. Alcoa AA 12

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