Saturday, December 5, 2009

12/5/09 Sat am BofA's 1.3 Bil Shares Offering Boosted Market

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Post #246 The following is brought to you by Intellivest Securities Research, Inc. 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 11/30/09 and an update of the Dow 30's most recent SEC filings as of 11/30/09.

A read of Saturday's 12/5/09 print editions of: Wall St. Journal, Financial Times (12/5 & 12/6 issue), New York Times, USA Today, Atlanta Journal Constitution, & 12/4-12/10 Atlanta Business Chronicle 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: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Friday at 10,388.14 up 21.9 or 0.21% from Thursday's close of 10,366.15. Year to date the Dow is up 18.37%. For the week the Dow was up 78.22 or .076%. Of the 30 Dow Companies: 21 gained and 9 declined. The biggest decliner dollar-wise and percentage-wise was DuPont DD $32.3289 -2.5011 7.18% 25,027,389 NYSE. The biggest gainer dollar-wise was 3M MMM $78.24 +1.09 1.41% 4,366,365 NYSE and percentage-wise was United Technologies UTX $68.32 +1.06 1.58% 4,380,830 NYSE.

WSJ pB1 "Jobs Data Pump Up The Dollar; Gold Falls" by Joanna Slater says a startingly good signal about the US job market sent investors scrambling Fri. to pare their mre pessimistic bets about the economy. They raced to buy the US dollar, dump gold and sell US Treasury bonds. Stocks surged on the employment news but ended the day with only a modest advance. Bank of America's massive offering Thursday night of 1.3 bil shares had the effect of increasing its weighting in the widely followed Standard & Poor's 500 stock index. that set off a scramble by index funds, which mirror the index, to buy Bank of America shares and to sell a portion of their holdings in the other stocks that comprise the index. Fri, BofA shares rose 3.3%.

Fin Times p14 "Equities' gains cancelled out by dollar strength" by Samantha Pearson says an unexpected drop in the unemployment rate briefly revived Wall St. yesterday, but the stronger dollar erased early gains. The US jobless rate fell back to 10% in Nov. after the economy shed the fewest jobs since the recession began. Stocks had been boosted by data showing orders to US factories had unexpectedly risen in Oct.

NYT pB6 "Surprising Jobs Report Gives the Dollar a Boost" by Javier C. Hernandez, David Jolly says a strengthening dollar lured investors away from the stock market on Fri., with a bright jobs report suggesting that an end might be in sight for huge stimulus efforts and rock bottom interest rates. Shares rose more than 1.1% at the open, at one point, the Dow Jones Industrial average surged ore than 150 points, as traders based in the rosiest jobs report since the recession began nearly 2 years ago.

WSJ pB3 "BofA Moves up 3.3%, While DuPont Slides" by Geoffrey Rogow says a sharp slowdown in US job losses last month pushed Bank of America, Boeing and the broader market higher on Friday, though a subsequent dollar rally weighed on commodities prices and stocks, including Exxon Mobil and Alcoa. The Dow Jones Industrial Average roses 0.22%. Its strongest components were large industrial firms including Boeing, up 1.7%, United Technologies, up 1.6%. Two of the Dow's weakest components were Exxon Mobil, down 1%, and Alcoa, down 2.1%. Component DuPont, which pushed back its time lines for the North American release of corn and soybean seeds that have a special herbicide tolerance and provide high yields.

As of the close of the market Friday, the current divisor for the Dow found at page B4 of Sat.'s Wall St. Jrnl is .132319125 unchanged, the trailing P/E ratio is 18.02 up from Fri. morning's 17.98 (year ago it was 18.03) the P/E estimate is 16.05 down from Fri.'s 16.17 (year ago it was 9.93) and the current dividend yield is 2.67 unchanged from Fri. morning's 2.67 (it was 3.63 a year ago).

Friday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing numerator was 1374.55 up 2.91 from Thursday's closing Dow numerator of 1371.64. 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 increase of 2.91 for Friday by the divisor you get the increase in Friday's Dow close of 21.99.

The average closing price (the closing numerator divided by 30) of Friday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was 45.82 up 0.10 from Thursday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing price of $45.72. The median closing price of Friday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was $40.54 up 0.40 from Friday's $40.14. The lowest volume Friday was again 3M MMM $78.24 +1.09 1.41% 4,366,365 NYSE and the highest volume again was Bank of Am BAC $ NYSE.

If Friday morning before the market opened you had purchased 100 shares 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 $296 ($137,460 - $137,164).

AT&T T $27.57 +0.05 0.18% 29,679,123 NYSE: WSJ B1 "Why Turning the Page on a CEO Isn't Always a Panacea" by Jason Zweig talks about the departure of ceos at GM, Fritz Henderson & at Bank of America, Kenneth Lewis. It seems obvious that getting the right boss in place ought to make all the difference in the world such as Steve Jobs at Apple, Alan Mulally at Ford and James Dimon at J.P.Morgan Chase. But management isn't nearly as important as many investors think according to this column, which is why Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffet's mentor, paid so little attention to it. Mr. Graham seldom bothered to meet the managers of the firms he invested in, partly because he felt they would tell him only what they wished him to hear and partly because he didn't want his judgments of business value to be influenced by impressions of personal character. Mr. Zweig backed his thesis with studies that show what happens when there is management change. Mr. Zweig's column is called "The Intelligent Investor." I absolutely, totally disagree with Mr. Zweig. If you see management as simply a custodian of assets, say, a gold mine, then he may be right. But if you are seeking a dynamic firm that makes intelligent decision, management is the number one, key driver for future success in this Blogger's opinion. Zweig explains some theory that when a CEO leaves to go to a new firm, the hot profits from the prior firm that caused the CEO to be offered a new position cools off naturally and it makes the old CEO look even better but eventually the honeymoon wears off at the new firm. He says the rave reviews for incoming bosses didn't last at AT&T when C. Michael Armstrong moved there in 1997 from Hughes Electornics; it didn't last when Carly Fiorina went to Hewlett-Packard in '99 from Lucent or when John thain split from the NYSE Euronext to Merrill Lynch in '07.

Alcoa AA $12.97 -0.30 2.26% 45,351,691 NYSE: WSJ pB3 "BofA Moves up 3.3%, While DuPont Slides" by Geoffrey Rogow says a sharp slowdown in US job losses last month pushed Bank of America, Boeing and the broader market higher on Friday, though a subsequent dollar rally weighed on commodities prices and stocks, including Exxon Mobil and Alcoa. The Dow Jones Industrial Average roses 0.22%. Its strongest components were large industrial firms including Boeing, up 1.7%, United Technologies, up 1.6%. Two of the Dow's weakest components were Exxon Mobil, down 1%, and Alcoa, down 2.1%. Component DuPont, which pushed back its time lines for the North American release of corn and soybean seeds that have a special herbicide tolerance and provide high yields.

American Express AXP $39.29 +0.42 1.08% 19,107,709 NYSE: No mentions found.

Bank of America BAC $16.17 +0.41 2.6% 1,006,543,976 NYSE: WSJ pB7 "BofA Tosses Aside the TALF Crutch" by Prabha Natarajan says for the first time in ore than a year, a bond deal backed by commercial mortgages was sold without gov backing, in a small sign of improvement for the troubled commercial real estate market. But to get investors to buy the $460 mil offering, the issuer, Bank of America Corp., had to offer better than expected returns: the $350 mil, triple A part of the deal had a yield of 2.25% points more than a comparable risk free floating benchmark rate. That premium was at least 0.15 point more than expected. JPMorgan Chase is in the market with a $500 mil commercial mortgage bond offering that isn't eligible for TALF.

WSJ pB1 "Jobs Data Pump Up The Dollar; Gold Falls" by Joanna Slater says a startingly good signal about the US job market sent investors scrambling Fri. to pare their mre pessimistic bets about the economy. They raced to buy the US dollar, dump gold and sell US Treasury bonds. Stocks surged on the employment news but ended the day with only a modest advance. Bank of America's massive offering Thursday night of 1.3 bil shares had the effect of increasing its weighting in the widely followed Standard & Poor's 500 stock index. that set off a scramble by index funds, which mirror the index, to buy Bank of America shares and to sell a portion of their holdings in the other stocks that comprise the index. Fri, BofA shares rose 3.3%.

WSJ pB3 "BofA Moves up 3.3%, While DuPont Slides" by Geoffrey Rogow says a sharp slowdown in US job losses last month pushed Bank of America, Boeing and the broader market higher on Friday, though a subsequent dollar rally weighed on commodities prices and stocks, including Exxon Mobil and Alcoa. The Dow Jones Industrial Average roses 0.22%. Its strongest components were large industrial firms including Boeing, up 1.7%, United Technologies, up 1.6%. Two of the Dow's weakest components were Exxon Mobil, down 1%, and Alcoa, down 2.1%. Component DuPont, which pushed back its time lines for the North American release of corn and soybean seeds that have a special herbicide tolerance and provide high yields.

WSJ pB4 "Soured Loans Put Lenders on the Hook" by Aparajita Saha-Bubna says as home loans sour at a rapid clip, mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are aggressively bouncing back defectively underwritten loans to lenders. The result is higher loan loss reserves for the lenders and new headwinds for banks trying to escape the housing downnturn. For lenders such as Wells Fargo, Bank of America, J.P.Morgan Chase and Citigroup which are among the largest sellers of mortgages to Fannie and Freddie, this could mean buying back souring loans at a loss. Banks are already on the hook for mortgages residing on their books. Fannie and Freddie are seeking to hold them accountable as well for what they say are improperly underwritten mortgages sold to them in the past. Through 9/30 Freddie Mac sput back about $2.7 bil fo single family mortgages to lenders, more than double the $1.2 bil fo a year earlier. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae don't lend directly to consumers but buy or guarantee home mortgages from lenders.

WSJ B1 "Why Turning the Page on a CEO Isn't Always a Panacea" by Jason Zweig talks about the departure of ceos at GM, Fritz Henderson & at Bank of America, Kenneth Lewis. It seems obvious that getting the right boss in place ought to make all the difference in the world such as Steve Jobs at Apple, Alan Mulally at Ford and James Dimon at J.P.Morgan Chase. But management isn't nearly as important as many investors think according to this column, which is why Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffet's mentor, paid so little attention to it. Mr. Graham seldom bothered to meet the managers of the firms he invested in, partly because he felt they would tell him only what they wished him to hear and partly because he didn't want his judgments of business value to be influenced by impressions of personal character. Mr. Zweig backed his thesis with studies that show what happens when there is management change. Mr. Zweig's column is called "The Intelligent Investor." I absolutely, totally disagree with Mr. Zweig. If you see management as simply a custodian of assets, say, a gold mine, then he may be right. But if you are seeking a dynamic firm that makes intelligent decision, management is the number one, key driver for future success in this Blogger's opinion. Zweig explains some theory that when a CEO leaves to go to a new firm, the hot profits from the prior firm that caused the CEO to be offered a new position cools off naturally and it makes the old CEO look even better but eventually the honeymoon wears off at the new firm. He says the rave reviews for incoming bosses didn't last at AT&T when C. Michael Armstrong moved there in 1997 from Hughes Electronics; it didn't last when Carly Fiorina went to Hewlett-Packard in '99 from Lucent or when John Thain split from the NYSE Euronext to Merrill Lynch in '07.

Boeing BA $54.65 +0.88 1.64% 5,280,461 NYSE: WSJ pB3 "BofA Moves up 3.3%, While DuPont Slides" by Geoffrey Rogow says a sharp slowdown in US job losses last month pushed Bank of America, Boeing and the broader market higher on Friday, though a subsequent dollar rally weighed on commodities prices and stocks, including Exxon Mobil and Alcoa. The Dow Jones Industrial Average roses 0.22%. Its strongest components were large industrial firms including Boeing, up 1.7%, United Technologies, up 1.6%. Two of the Dow's weakest components were Exxon Mobil, down 1%, and Alcoa, down 2.1%. Component DuPont, which pushed back its time lines for the North American release of corn and soybean seeds that have a special herbicide tolerance and provide high yields.

Caterpillar CAT $58.27 +0.07 0.12% 10,080,164 NYSE: No mentions found.

Chevron CVX $78.04 +0.08 0.1% 8,781,330 NYSE: WSJ pB6 "Ecuador Seeks To Block Chevron" by Ben Casselman, Chad Bray says the gov. of Ecuador asked a US court on Fri. to intervene in its long running environmental battle with Chevron. The fed. court filing is tied to a multi bil dollar lawsuit taking place in Ecuador that seeks to hold Chevron responsible for environmental damage alleged caused by Texaco which operated there from '64 to '90 and which was bought by Chevron in '01. A ruling in that case is expected next year. San Ramon, Calif. based Chevron accuses the gov of Ecuador of interfering on the plaintiffs' behalf and violating an agreement to release Chevron from environmental claims. On Fri, Ecuador's gov asked a US dist. court in NY to order Chevron to drip a claim it made in sept. seeking binding arbitration under int'l law. Separately, and as also reported at AJC pA13, Chevron said it would stop selling fuel at more than either 100 or 1,000 gas stations in Eastern states including Pa, Ohio and S. Carolina, it isn't clear because there is a typo that says: "1,00 gas stations."

Cisco CSCO $24.16 +0.33 1.38% 49,087,897 NASDAQ-GS: NYT pB2 says Cisco Systems, network equp maker, said on Fri. that it had control of more than 90% of the Norwegian videoconferencing firm Tandberg and would buy out the remaining shareholders. Cisco had 89.1% acceptance for its offer of 19 bil Norwegian kroner ($3.4 bil) in addition to the 2% of Tandberg it bought in Nov.

Coca-Cola KO $57.41 +0.14 0.24% 12,008,903 NYSE: No mentions found.

Disney DIS $30.84 +0.51 1.68% 13,720,451 NYSE: No mentions found.

DuPont DD
$32.3289 -2.5011 7.18% 25,027,389 NYSE: WSJ pB3 "BofA Moves up 3.3%, While DuPont Slides" by Geoffrey Rogow says a sharp slowdown in US job losses last month pushed Bank of America, Boeing and the broader market higher on Friday, though a subsequent dollar rally weighed on commodities prices and stocks, including Exxon Mobil and Alcoa. The Dow Jones Industrial Average roses 0.22%. Its strongest components were large industrial firms including Boeing, up 1.7%, United Technologies, up 1.6%. Two of the Dow's weakest components were Exxon Mobil, down 1%, and Alcoa, down 2.1%. Component DuPont, which pushed back its time lines for the North American release of corn and soybean seeds that have a special herbicide tolerance and provide high yields.

ExxonMobil XOM $74.135 -0.855 1.14% 22,111,515 NYSE: WSJ pB3 "BofA Moves up 3.3%, While DuPont Slides" by Geoffrey Rogow says a sharp slowdown in US job losses last month pushed Bank of America, Boeing and the broader market higher on Friday, though a subsequent dollar rally weighed on commodities prices and stocks, including Exxon Mobil and Alcoa. The Dow Jones Industrial Average roses 0.22%. Its strongest components were large industrial firms including Boeing, up 1.7%, United Technologies, up 1.6%. Two of the Dow's weakest components were Exxon Mobil, down 1%, and Alcoa, down 2.1%. Component DuPont, which pushed back its time lines for the North American release of corn and soybean seeds that have a special herbicide tolerance and provide high yields.

GE $16.21 +0.21 1.31% 85,786,307 NYSE: No mentions found.

Hewlett-Packard HPQ
$49.84 +0.88 1.8% 18,258,205 NYSE: WSJ pB6 "Dell Reorganizes, Creating New Mobile device Div" by Justin Scheck says Dell plans to launch a bigger push into mobile devices as it reorganizes its business group. Dell will create a new communications div gto develop products such as mobile phones and other portable devices and will be headed by Ron Garriques, who is current pres. of Dell's consumer div. After rising to become the world's largest PC maker by volume earlier this decade, Dell now ranks third behind Hewlett-Packard Co. and Acer Inc.

WSJ B1 "Why Turning the Page on a CEO Isn't Always a Panacea" by Jason Zweig talks about the departure of ceos at GM, Fritz Henderson & at Bank of America, Kenneth Lewis. It seems obvious that getting the right boss in place ought to make all the difference in the world such as Steve Jobs at Apple, Alan Mulally at Ford and James Dimon at J.P.Morgan Chase. But management isn't nearly as important as many investors think according to this column, which is why Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffet's mentor, paid so little attention to it. Mr. Graham seldom bothered to meet the managers of the firms he invested in, partly because he felt they would tell him only what they wished him to hear and partly because he didn't want his judgments of business value to be influenced by impressions of personal character. Mr. Zweig backed his thesis with studies that show what happens when there is management change. Mr. Zweig's column is called "The Intelligent Investor." I absolutely, totally disagree with Mr. Zweig. If you see management as simply a custodian of assets, say, a gold mine, then he may be right. But if you are seeking a dynamic firm that makes intelligent decision, management is the number one, key driver for future success in this Blogger's opinion. Zweig explains some theory that when a CEO leaves to go to a new firm, the hot profits from the prior firm that caused the CEO to be offered a new position cools off naturally and it makes the old CEO look even better but eventually the honeymoon wears off at the new firm. He says the rave reviews for incoming bosses didn't last at AT&T when C. Michael Armstrong moved there in 1997 from Hughes Electornics; it didn't last when Carly Fiorina went to Hewlett-Packard in '99 from Lucent or when John thain split from the NYSE Euronext to Merrill Lynch in '07.

Home Depot HD $28.08 +0.15 0.54% 15,262,329 NYSE: Atl Bus. Chron p26A says a former exec of the Home Depot pleaded guilty Dec. 2 in fed dist. ct. to stealing trade secrets from Home Depot. He was the senior manager of product engineering, responsible for helping firm vendors prep to sell products to Home Depot. sentencing is set for 2/3/10.

Intel INTC $20.46 +0.59 2.97% 85,480,451 NASDAQ-GS: No mentions found.

IBM $127.3 -0.25 0.2% 6,784,691 NYSE: No mentions found.

J.P.Morgan Chase JPM
$41.79 +0.39 0.94% 57,787,509 NYSE: WSJ pB4 "Soured Loans Put Lenders on the Hook" by Aparajita Saha-Bubna says as home loans sour at a rapid clip, mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are aggressively bouncing back defectively underwritten loans to lenders. The result is higher loan loss reserves for the lenders and new headwinds for banks trying to escape the housing downnturn. For lenders such as Wells Fargo, Bank of America, J.P.Morgan Chase and Citigroup which are among the largest sellers of mortgages to Fannie and Freddie, this could mean buying back souring loans at a loss. Banks are already on the hook for mortgages residing on their books. Fannie and Freddie are seeking to hold them accountable as well for what they say are improperly underwritten mortgages sold to them in the past. Through 9/30 Freddie Mac sput back about $2.7 bil fo single family mortgages to lenders, more than double the $1.2 bil fo a year earlier. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae don't lend directly to consumers but buy or guarantee home mortgages from lenders.

WSJ pB7 "BofA Tosses Aside the TALF Crutch" by Prabha Natarajan says for the first time in ore than a year, a bond deal backed by commercial mortgages was sold without gov backing, in a small sign of improvement for the troubled commercial real estate market. But to get investors to buy the $460 mil offering, the issuer, Bank of America Corp., had to offer better than expected returns: the $350 mil, triple A part of the deal had a yield of 2.25% points more than a comparable risk free floating benchmark rate. That premium was at least 0.15 point more than expected. JPMorgan Chase is in the market with a $500 mil commercial mortgage bond offering that isn't eligible for TALF.

WSJ B1 "Why Turning the Page on a CEO Isn't Always a Panacea" by Jason Zweig talks about the departure of ceos at GM, Fritz Henderson & at Bank of America, Kenneth Lewis. It seems obvious that getting the right boss in place ought to make all the difference in the world such as Steve Jobs at Apple, Alan Mulally at Ford and James Dimon at J.P.Morgan Chase. But management isn't nearly as important as many investors think according to this column, which is why Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffet's mentor, paid so little attention to it. Mr. Graham seldom bothered to meet the managers of the firms he invested in, partly because he felt they would tell him only what they wished him to hear and partly because he didn't want his judgments of business value to be influenced by impressions of personal character. Mr. Zweig backed his thesis with studies that show what happens when there is management change. Mr. Zweig's column is called "The Intelligent Investor." I absolutely, totally disagree with Mr. Zweig. If you see management as simply a custodian of assets, say, a gold mine, then he may be right. But if you are seeking a dynamic firm that makes intelligent decision, management is the number one, key driver for future success in this Blogger's opinion. Zweig explains some theory that when a CEO leaves to go to a new firm, the hot profits from the prior firm that caused the CEO to be offered a new position cools off naturally and it makes the old CEO look even better but eventually the honeymoon wears off at the new firm. He says the rave reviews for incoming bosses didn't last at AT&T when C. Michael Armstrong moved there in 1997 from Hughes Electornics; it didn't last when Carly Fiorina went to Hewlett-Packard in '99 from Lucent or when John thain split from the NYSE Euronext to Merrill Lynch in '07.

Atlanta Bus. Chron p5A "Chase looks to grow commercial biz" by J. Scott Trubey says JPMorgan Chase is aiming for a top spot in the Atlanta banking market by gunning for the business of the city's top firms. S. Todd Maclin, CEO of Chase's commercial banking unit, said the NY based giant is crafting its strategy to grow its piece of Atlanta's pie, targeting middle market businesses and large firms, while leveraging the foothold it gained in its purchase of the failed thrift Washington Mutual. In Ga, JPMorgan Chase has 56 branches, $717 mil in deposits,& 2 mil consumer clients.

Johnson & Johnson JNJ $64.34 +0.18 0.28% 13,634,226 NYSE: No mentions found.

Kraft KFT $26.57 +0.15 0.57% 12,497,843 NYSE: Fin Times p1 "UK warns Kraft over bid for Cadbury" by Jonathan Guthrie, Jonathan Birchall & WSJ pB6 "Bidders for Cadbury Are Warned by UK" by Alistair MacDonald, Ilan Brat says as Kraft Foods Inc. formalized its offer for Cadbury, the UK's top biz minister, warned that any bidder for Cadbury could face gov opposition if it is seen as trying to make a quick buck on the firm. Petter Mandelson made the remakrs at a trade conference in Birmingham where Cadbury was founded.

Fin Times p10 "Hershey's legacy is a sweet story for its subsidised community" by Jonathan Birchall says Milton Hershey modelled his chocolate factory and town in the rurla fields of Derry Township, Pa. on the village set up by George Cadbury in Bournville, England in the 1890's. Hershey may bid for Cadbury.

Fin Times p16 Kraft/Cadbury says Lord Mandelson has thrown some fruit and nut into Kraft's otherwise bland hostile bid for Cadbury. The UK business secretary's warning that Kraft will face gov opposition if it tries to make a fast buck by slashing Cadbury's operations makes it no longer possible to mock French declarations that yoghurt was a strategic industry. While bidders for Danone took fright, Lord Mandelson concedes he could not block a bid. He could, however, give Kraft an excuse not to raise its parsimonious offer.

Atl. Bus. Chron. p19A "Kraft to expand a south side's Airport Center" says Kraft Foods Inc., the nation's largest food company, will occupy a nearly 1 mil square foot warehouse and distribution center in Union City, Ga. Kraft is known for brands such as Oscar Mayer, Nabisco and Cheez Whiz. and is based in Northfield, Ill.

McDonald's MCD $61.55 -0.42 0.68% 9,193,084 NYSE: No mentions found.

Merck MRK $36.64 -0.13 0.35% 14,237,188 NYSE: No mentions found.

Microsoft MSFT
$29.98 +0.15 0.5% 58,209,152 NASDAQ-GS: AJC pA13 says Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo have signed off on their plan to team up against Google in the lucrative Internet search market. The step announced Fri. seals the terms of a prelim agreement announced in July. The 10 year contract was to be signed in Oct, but was delayed. Gov. regulators still must approve the proposed partnership, which would have Microsoft powering Yahoo's search engine in the US by the middle of next year.

Pfizer PFE $18.49 -0.15 0.8% 44,075,773 NYSE: No mentions found.

Procter & Gamble PG $62.6 +0.04 0.06% 11,228,638 NYSE: No mentions found.

3M MMM $78.24 +1.09 1.41% 4,366,365 NYSE: No mentions found.

Travelers TRV $51.04 -0.40 0.78% 5,946,851 NYSE: No mentions found.

United Technologies UTX
$68.32 +1.06 1.58% 4,380,830 NYSE: WSJ pB3 "BofA Moves up 3.3%, While DuPont Slides" by Geoffrey Rogow says a sharp slowdown in US job losses last month pushed Bank of America, Boeing and the broader market higher on Friday, though a subsequent dollar rally weighed on commodities prices and stocks, including Exxon Mobil and Alcoa. The Dow Jones Industrial Average roses 0.22%. Its strongest components were large industrial firms including Boeing, up 1.7%, United Technologies, up 1.6%. Two of the Dow's weakest components were Exxon Mobil, down 1%, and Alcoa, down 2.1%. Component DuPont, which pushed back its time lines for the North American release of corn and soybean seeds that have a special herbicide tolerance and provide high yields.

Verizon VZ $32.7 +0.01 0.03% 15,323,018 NYSE: WSJ pB4 "Verizon Wireless Fees Are Probed by FCC" by Amy Schatz says the FCC is looking into why Verizon Wireless is now charging a $350 fee to some subscribers who want to break their cellphone contracts early. Also some Verizon subscribers have complainted about getting hit with a $1.99 charge for accidentally accessing Verizon's Mobile Web service.

Walmart WMT $54.24 -0.20 0.37% 11,099,015 NYSE: No mentions found.
***************
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
11/30/09 followed by number of shares outstanding rounded to the nearest 1/2 billion:

1. Exxon Mobil XOM $360 [5]
2. Microsoft MSFT 260 [9]
3. WalMart WMT 211 [4]
4. Chevron CVX 191 [2.5]
5. Procter & Gamble PG 183 [3]
6. Johnson & Johnson JNJ 174 [3]
7. GE 170 [10.5]
8. IBM 165 [1.5]
9. JPMorgan Chase 163 [4]
10. AT&T 159 [6]
11. Pfizer PFE 147 [8]
12. Cisco CSCO 134 [6]
13. BAC 134 [6.5]
14. Coke KO 132 [2]
15. Hewlett-Packard HPQ 116 [2]
16. Intel INTC 107 [5.5]
17. McDonald's MCD 106 [1]
18. Verizon VZ 90 [3]
19. Merck MRK 77 [2]
20. United Technologies UTX 63 [1]
21. Disney DIS 56 [2]
22. 3M MMM 54 [.5]
23. American Express AXP 49 [1]
24. Home Depot 47 [2]
25. Kraft KFT 39 [1.5]
26. Boeing BA 38 [1]
27. Caterpillar CAT 36 [.5]
28. DuPont DD 31 [1]
29. Travelers 28 [.5]
30. Alcoa AA 12 [1]

Here are the latest SEC filings as of 11/30/09 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: 11/6/09 8K re:the acquisition of Centennial Communications Corp. a regional provider of wireless and wired communications services for $945 million in cash.

Alcoa AA: 11/20/09 8K re: that it will temporarily idle production at its two aluminum smelters in Fusina and Portovesme, Italy while appealing a European Commission decision that Italy’s extension of the existing electricity tariff after 2005 did not comply with European Union state aid rules and that a portion of the benefit received by Alcoa must be refunded. The curtailments in Italy will bring Alcoa’s total global smelting system curtailments to approximately 24 percent. Alcoa expects to take a 4Q '09 charge of between $300 million and $500 million, pre-tax, including the temporary curtailment and recovery actions.

American Express AXP: 11/18/09 8K re: acquisition of Revolution Money, a Revolution LLC company which was launched by AOL Co-founder Steve Case's Revolution LLC in '07 & provides secure payments through an internet based platform. No names or account numbers appear on Revolution cards and transactions are authorized by using a PIN number. Their online person-to-person payment accounts are FDIC insured and suited for social and instant messaging networks.

Bank of Am BAC: 11/27/09 8K re: the Board approved amendments to the 2009 compensation arrangements for Joe L. Price, Chief Financial Officer, & Barbara J. Desoer, President, Bank of America Mortgage, Home Equity and Insurance Services.

Boeing BA: 11/20/09 8K re: Boeing issued $700,000,000 of 1.875% Senior Notes due 2012 and $500,000,000 of 3.750% Senior Notes due 2016.

Caterpiller CAT: 11/19/09 8K disclosing supplemental information concerning deliveries to users for its Machinery and Engines lines of business.

Chevron CVX: 11/5/09 10Q

Cisco CSCO: 11/24/09 8K re: Mark Chandler, Senior Vice President, Legal Services, General Counsel & Secretary of Cisco Systems adopted a pre-arranged stock trading plan to exercise Cisco stock options originally granted in 2001 and set to expire in February 2010 and sell the acquired shares of Cisco stock for up to 80,000 shares of Cisco stock.

Coke KO: 10/29/09 10QA

Disney DIS: 11/13/09 8K re: effective January 1, 2010, Thomas O. Staggs, currently Sr. Exec. VP & CFO, will become Chairman, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, & James A. Rasulo, currently Chairman, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, will become Sr. Exec. VP & CFO.

11/19/09 Amended S-4 related to the takeover of Marvel.

DuPont DD: 11/5/09 Prospectus relating to $1,000,000,000 3.250% Notes due 1/15 & $1,000,000,000 4.625% Notes due January 15, 2020

ExxonMobil XOM: 11/5/09 10Q

GE: 11/6/09 10QA

Hewlett-Packard HPQ: 11/23/09 8K re: financial results for its 4Q ended 10/31/09, with net rev of $30.8 billion, down 8% from a year earlier.

Home Depot HD: 11/17/09 8K re: 3Q of fiscal 2009 net earnings of $689 million, or $0.41 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $756 million, or $0.45 per diluted share, in the same period in fiscal 2008.

Intel INTC: 11/16/09 8K re: board of directors approved a 12.5 percent increase in the quarterly cash dividend to 15.75 cents per share (63 cents per share on an annual basis), beginning with the dividend that will be declared in the first quarter of 2010.

IBM: 11/5/09 8K announcing its Form S-3, effective August 3, 2007, relating to $2,000,000,000 of debt securities of the Registrant.

JPMorganChase JPM: 11/20/09 re: Cazenove Group Limited (Cazenove) and J.P. Morgan have agreed a transaction under which their joint venture, J.P. Morgan Cazenove, will become a wholly owned part of J.P. Morgan.

Johnson & Johnson JNJ: 11/4/09 10Q

Kraft KFT: 11/9/09 8K re: pursuant to Rule 2.5 of the U.K. City Code on Takeovers and Mergers Kraft disclosed its intention to make an offer to acquire each outstanding ordinary share of Cadbury plc.

11/9/09 8K re: an acquisition and refinancing bridge credit agreement for a 364-day senior unsecured term loan facility with the lenders led by Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and HSBC Securities (USA) Inc., as joint bookrunners, and Citibank, N.A. and Deutsche Bank AG Cayman Islands Branch, as co-administrative agents for loans up to £5.5 billion with a maturity date of 364 days.

McDonalds MCD: 11/12/09 8K re: CEO Jim Skinner outlined MCD’s priorities to continue to drive growth in sales, market share and returns through a strategic focus on its customers and restaurants under the successful Plan to Win. This includes plans to open about 1,000 new restaurants and reimage 2,300 existing locations worldwide in 2010.

Merck MRK: 11/4/09 8K announcing the consummation on November 3, 2009 of the merger of Merck & Co., Inc. &, Schering-Plough Corporation.

Microsoft MSFT: 11/24/09 8K re: Chris Liddell's departure as CFO to be replaced by Peter Klein.

Pfizer PFE: 11/5/09 10Q

Procter & Gamble PG: 10/29/09 10Q

3M MMM: 11/24/09 8K re: an amendment to its VIP Excess Plan that offers eligible highly compensated employees with the opportunity to defer the receipt of a portion of their current cash compensation on a tax-favored basis.

Travelers TRV: 11/10/09 8K re: the resignation of Robert I. Lipp from the Board.

United Technologies UTX: 11/17/09 8K re: its purchase of the GE Security business from GE for $1.82 billion. The closing is pending regulatory approvals. GE Security, part of GE Technology Infrastructure, supplies security and life safety technologies through a broad product portfolio for commercial and residential applications that include fire detection and life safety systems, intrusion alarms, and video surveillance and access control systems. Headquartered in Bradenton, Fla., the business has eight manufacturing facilities and approximately 4,700 employees in 26 countries.

Verizon Communications Inc. VZ:/11/2/09 8K announcing VZ adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 160, Noncontrolling Interests in Consolidated Financial Statements — an amendment of ARB No. 51 (SFAS No. 160).

Wal-Mart WMT: 11/12/09 8K re: diluted earnings per share from continuing operations for 3Q of fiscal year 2010 of $0.84, exceeding WMT’s guidance of $0.78 to $0.82. Walmart earned $0.77 per share from continuing operations in the third quarter last year.
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Post #248 The following is brought to you by Intellivest Securities Research, Inc. 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 11/30/09 and an update of the Dow 30's most recent SEC filings as of 11/30/09.

A read of Monday's 12/7/09 print editions of: Wall St. Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, Investor's Business Daily, USA Today, Atlanta Journal Constitution, & Daily Report (Ga) 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: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Friday at 10,388.14 up 21.9 or 0.21% from Thursday's close of 10,366.15. Year to date the Dow is up 18.37%. For the week the Dow was up 78.22 or .76. Of the 30 Dow Companies: 21 gained and 9 declined. The biggest decliner dollar-wise and percentage-wise was DuPont DD $32.3289 -2.5011 7.18% 25,027,389 NYSE. The biggest gainer dollar-wise was 3M MMM $78.24 +1.09 1.41% 4,366,365 NYSE and percentage-wise was United Technologies UTX $68.32 +1.06 1.58% 4,380,830 NYSE.

Friday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing numerator was 1374.55 up 2.91 from Thursday's closing Dow numerator of 1371.64. 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 increase of 2.91 for Friday by the divisor you get the increase in Friday's Dow close of 21.99.

The average closing price (the closing numerator divided by 30) of Friday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was 45.82 up 0.10 from Thursday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing price of $45.72. The median closing price of Friday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was $40.54 up 0.40 from Friday's $40.14. The lowest volume Friday was again 3M MMM $78.24 +1.09 1.41% 4,366,365 NYSE and the highest volume again was Bank of Am BAC $ NYSE.

If Friday morning before the market opened you had purchased 100 shares 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 $296 ($137,460 - $137,164).