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Post #247 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: Sunday's 12/6/09 print editions of New York Times, Atlanta Journal Constitution, 12/7/09 issue of Barron's, 12/14,09 issue of Bloomberg BusinessWeek (note their new name), 12/14/09 issue of Forbes, 12/14/09 issue of Time, Winter '09 issue of Equities, Dec/Jan issue of Inc., & Dec. '09 issue of AARP Bullten 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.

Equities p12 "With the Dow back at 10,000 are things better or worse? by Michael Markowski says recently, Johnson & Johnson reported its earning for 3Q ended 9/30/09 slipped by 5.3% versus its third quarter of '08 and its shares fell for the day more than 2%. JNJ has long been considered to be one of the pillars of the Dow 30 and the US' best managed health care firm. Up until '09, JNJ had increased its annualized rev for the past 35 consecutive years. Rev for its year ending 12/31/09 is expected to decline which will be the first in over 35 years. Large firms are falling by the wayside because they have gotten so big it is hard for them to grow. GE and JNJ were the leaders in consistently growing their dividends between '74 and '08. GE has long been considered as the US' biggest and best managed industrial firm. MSFT and GE have also fallen. GE's rev has been accelerating to the downside. Rev for its most recent quarter declined by 20% versus 3Q of '08. Recently the Dow closed above 10,000 for the first time in the last 12 months. Since the Dow was at 10,000 the Dow's dividend yield has fallen to 2.6% from 3.5% because of the slashing of dividends by GE and JPMMorgan; in the latest period, only 4 out of the 26 Dow nonfinancial firms were able to show rev increases over the last 12 months as compared to 24 out of 6 that had increasing rev over the prior year 12 mos earlier; unemployment has gone from 6 to 10%; and venerable long term growth firms like JNJ and MMSFT have jointed the ranks of the other Dow firms that are no longer able to sustain consistent rev increases.

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: BRN's p38 "Phone Giant beset by iHogs" by Mark Veverka says Verizon Wireless has been exploiting the weakness in AT&T's 3G wireless network. It is fashionable to slam AT&T for dropped calls and eternally jammed frequencies. Verizon, controlled by Verizon Communications, has shelved its entire holiday ad campaign in favor of a snarky attack map attack against AT&T. AT&T has seen its data traffic explode 50 fold in the past 3 years alone, without getting commensurately higher fees. Data fees for the iPhone are based on flat rates. The iPhone has been a mixed blessing for many carriers and not just AT&T, which has exclusive US distribution. Apple's iconic handset has increased data plans, rev per subscriber and market share for carriers. On the other hand, heavy usage has taxed networks, incensed customers, forced higher capital spending and yielded lower returns on investment capital. IPhone has gone from a PR dream for At&t to a PR nightmare,. They call it the iHog problem: iPHone subscribers use as much as 7 times the network bandwidth of voice users and about twice that of other 3G customers. This puts excessive stress on an already inadequate network. It is suprising that At&t hasn't spent ore on infrastructure to remediate what are very serious customer concerns. The high cost of iPHone subscribers won't stop AT&T from renewing its Apple contract, rumored to expire next summer. Apple accounts for 92% of At&t's net new mobile subscribers.

BRN's p27 Cover Story - Even Better Than Bonds" by Andrew Barry says certain investments like utility stocks and convertibles offer fat yields and a bulwark against rising rates or inflation. There is a list of examples of investments that can provide income like bonds, but are not likely to be hurt as much when interest rates climb. BofA's J Series Preferred Stock with an interest rate of 7.25% and a yield of 8.8% is listed under "Preferred Stock." Under Telecom Shares are both AT&T with a dividend yield of 6% and Verizon with a dividend yield of 5.8%.

BRN's p45 "In Harmony With Technology" by Lawrence C. Strauss who interviews Nick Thakore, Manger, Putnam Voyager Fund who likes Qualcom the dominant player in the wireless data arena. All consumer electronics, whether it's personal computers, cameras, TVs, GPS devices, portable gaming devices, are moving to be connected to the wireless network. Qualcomm will get paid for every device that gets connected to the wireless network. Both Verizon Communications and Best Buy herald this as the next big driver of wireless-data growth. A big risk for Qualcomm is competition with Intel on the PC side and it is reasonable to bleieve that on the wireless side Intel will get more aggressive. Also, DirectTV could be a valuable strategic asset to be acquired by AT&T or Verizon.

Alcoa Alcoa AA $12.97 -0.30 2.26% 45,351,691 NYSE:

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: Barron's p7 "A Break in the Clouds" by Alan Abelson says the past couple of years have been anything but dull for Bank of America as it took over Countrywide Financial, a leading mortgage vendor with a portfolio rich in risky loans, in July '08, late the same year, BofA was thinking about bbuying Merrill Lynch, and when BofA's CEO, the perpetually harried looking Ken Lewis, decided maybe that wasn't the best idea in the world, he was muscled into going through with the deal by those twin regulatory roughnecks, Hammering Hank Paulson and Battling Ben Bernanke. The torturous trajectory of the bank's share price, from above 50 in Sept. '07 to $3.53 on March 6, '09 to a recent 15 and change, describes quite eloquently the steep descent and partial revival of its fortunes. Now it plans to repay the $45 bil it borrowed from the US and free itself of gov restrictions. To repay the loans, BofA will scrape up $26.2 bil on its own and last week sold $19.3 bil of securities consisting of a depositary share and a warrant, at $15 a pop, convertible into common. It is possible next year will show lower revenue for financials as a group. After BofA repays the TARP funds it will have $19.5 bil less in capital. Credit losses haven't stopped and BofA may have to raise more capital later in less friendly capital markets.

BRN's p20 "Week Review" says BofA reached a deal to repay $45 bil it borrowed during the financial meltdown.

BRN's pM2 charts Bank of America saying the bank's stock sale will allow it to repay $45 bil in TARP loans and clear the way for a new CEO to arrive.

BRN's pM3 "December's Rehearsal for 2010" by Kopin Tan says stocks' nine month rally is maturing. Financial shares that led the '09 charge are struggling, even as bellwethers like Bank of America raised $19 bil lasat week toward repaying the $45 bil it owes taxpayers. At these levels, analysts run out of stocks to upgrade, so the downgrade cycle begins.

BRN's pM11 says BofA was number one in the list of most active stocks last week by share volume.

Bus Wk p30 "What Lurks On The Books Of Banks" by Theo Francis, Jessica Silver-Greenberg says at first glance, banks seem to be reovering nicely from the financial crisis. But many banks appear to be postponing inevitable losses on home equity loans and commercial mortgages. Others face new trouble in consumer banking especially credit cards. Banks know they've got big holes on their balance sheets. A number of big banks are increasingly dependent on fees. Bank of America has had a 28% increase in card fees since '07 while interest income has fallen. Changes to overdraft policies forced by the Fed could cost BofA $200 mil a quarter.

BRN's p27 Cover Story - Even Better Than Bonds" by Andrew Barry says certain investments like utility stocks and convertibles offer fat yields and a bulwark against rising rates or inflation. There is a list of examples of investments that can provide income like bonds, but are not likely to be hurt as much when interest rates climb. BofA's J Series Preferred Stock with an interest rate of 7.25% and a yield of 8.8% is listed under "Preferred Stock." Under Telecom Shares are both AT&T with a dividend yield of 6% and Verizon with a dividend yield of 5.8%.

BRN's p21 "Week Preview" says on Tues. 12/8 Bank of America's board meets and could discuss a new CEO.

Boeing Boeing BA $54.65 +0.88 1.64% 5,280,461 NYSE: Bus Wk p35 "Why Dubai Matters" by Stanley Reed says the city-state's open economy has attracted legions of foreign investors and serves as a model for its gulf neighbors. It is the business gateway for a region with a $1 trillion economy, millions of eager young consumers, and hundreds of billions of petrodollars to invest. Microsoft, GE, Cisco Systems, and a host of other A-list multinationals have flocked to Dubai because of its open culture, top notch infrastructure, and hassle free business climate. Emirates, the airline founded in '85, is among the world's top 10 carriers and a major customer for both Airbus and Boeing.

Caterpillar CAT $58.27 +0.07 0.12% 10,080,164 NYSE: Equities p70 "Highway Infrastructure" by William Atkinson says that while i may be awhile before infrastructure firms that are limited to domestic work see a big uptick in activity, those that have a worldwide market may see quicker, stronger and more sustained growth. Firms such as heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar is well poised to take advantage of the infrastructure growth, both domestic and int'l.

Chevron CVX $78.04 +0.08 0.1% 8,781,330 NYSE:

Cisco CSCO $24.16 +0.33 1.38% 49,087,897 NASDAQ-GS: Bus Wk p65 "Why Copenhagen Will Be Good for Business" by John Carey says progress toward a climate deal at this week's (12/7) climate summit in Copenhagen would tip the balance toward renewables and create opportunities. Cisco Systems is outfitting four rooms in the city's Bella convention center with a giant screen teleconferencing system, enabling officials to confer facer to face with counterparts in 100 places around the world. IBM's business of helping firms measure their carbon footprints is growing now that the US will require emissions to be reported.

Bus Wk p35 "Why Dubai Matters" by Stanley Reed says the city-state's open economy has attracted legions of foreign investors and serves as a model for its gulf neighbors. It is the business gateway for a region with a $1 trillion economy, millions of eager young consumers, and hundreds of billions of petrodollars to invest. Microsoft, GE, Cisco Systems, and a host of other A-list multinationals have flocked to Dubai because of its open culture, top notch infrastructure, and hassle free business climate. Emirates, the airline founded in '85, is among the world's top 10 carriers and a major customer for both Airbus and Boeing.

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: AJC pD7 said Disney lowered its forecast for annual earnings to $1.76 from $2.28.

BRN's p37 "Roberts' Deal for NBC Universal: It's Comcasatic! by Eric J. Savitz says nearly 6 years afer making a failed $66 bil bid to acquire Disney, Comcast officially announced a deal last week to acquire majority control of NBC Universal from GE. What is surprising is that the combo has been engineered to sharply enhance Comcast's investment appeal which suddenly looks like a bargain.

Barron's p17 "It's Still Too Early to Worry Too Much" by Michael Santoli says Comcast's deal to acquire GE's NBC Universal media div through a jv with Comcast's own content properties invites several interpretations. Some will say its a matter of costly empire building by Hollywood-besotted cable provider Comcast. Others more charitably see it as a prudent hedge by Comcast's founding Roberts family against an uncertain future for pay TV. Or, one can invoke the price placed on NBC Universal to shed light on the other Big Media businesses. The NBC Universal valuation, based on total firm value to '10 forecast cash flow, or equity price to '10 earnings, means either that most media content stocks are cheap today, or Comcast paid excessively to wrest control of the biz. Perhaps, a bit of both. The comcast-GE media jv's cash flow multiple is at a 68% premium to the entertainment industry average, and its P/E is 46% higher than the industry norm. Most large media firms aren't for sale, and control premiums can be large. But it certainly should reassure owners of Walt Disney, Time Warner and CBS that there's a cushion under these stocks and perhaps good headroom above them for the longer term.

DuPont DD $32.3289 -2.5011 7.18% 25,027,389 NYSE:

ExxonMobil XOM $74.135 -0.855 1.14% 22,111,515 NYSE: Forbes p64 "10 Steps to Upgrade Your Savings" by William Baldwin gives an example of booking losses and getting around the wash sale rule by selling ConcoPhillips at a loss, and buying ExxonMMobil.

Forbes p134 "The Old Noram" by Ken Fisher recommends Braskem as Brazil's leading petrochemical firm saying in S. America only Dow Chemical and ExxonMobilare larger.

GE $16.21 +0.21 1.31% 85,786,307 NYSE: Forbes p30 "Yard Sale - Forget Growth- GE's Jeff Immelt is On a Mission to Raise Cash Now" by Daniel Fisher says that GE says it doesn't need the money, but there appears to be a housecleaning exercise going on. The sale of NBC Universal to Comcast is the biggest example of CEO Jeffrey Imelt's signature strategy of divesture. Where he once boasted about growth, Imelt is now busily selling off divisions to raise cash and reduce debt at GE's $658 billion in assets finance arm. He's not in a positon to extract good terms from the buyers Exchanging $30 bil worth of assets for a minority stake in a $40 bil biz doesn't seem to make much sense unless you are desperae. Ever since the late 90's, GE's fiance arm took advanage of steadly falling interest rates and its triple A bond rating to borrow money and invest it in loans and acquisitions. Immelt has sold GE's life insurance business, its GE Money Japan, Plastics to the Saudis, its subprime mortgage wholesaler, WMC, its baggage screening tech firm, Invasion Technologies, and Edwards Systems Technology, the Canadian security systems firm it bought in '04.

Barron's p17 "It's Still Too Early to Worry Too Much" by Michael Santoli says Comcast's deal to acquire GE's NBC Universal media div through a jv with Comcast's own content properties invites several interpretations. Some will say its a matter of costly empire building by Hollywood-besotted cable provider Comcast. Others more charitably see it as a prudent hedge by Comcast's founding Roberts family against an uncertain future for pay TV. Or, one can invoke the price placed on NBC Universal to shed light on the other Big Media businesses. The NBC Universal valuation, based on total firm value to '10 forecast cash flow, or equity price to '10 earnings, means either that most media content stocks are cheap today, or Comcast paid excessively to wrest control of the biz. Perhaps, a bit of both. The comcast-GE media jv's cash flow multiple is at a 68% premium to the entertainment industry average, and its P/E is 46% higher than the industry norm. Most large media firms aren't for sale, and control premiums can be large. But it certainly should reassure owners of Walt Disney, Time Warner and CBS that there's a cushion under these stocks and perhaps good headroom above them for the longer term.

BRN's p20 "Week Review" says Comcast said it will buy a majority stake in GE's NBC Universal for $13.8 bil giving the nation's largest cable tv operator control of such peacock network assets as the NBC broadcast network, Telemundo and Universal Pictures. The deal was reached after Vivendi agreed to sell a 20% stake in NBC to GE for $6 bil.

Equities p12 "With the Dow back at 10,000 are things better or worse? by Michael Markowski says recently, Johnson & Johnson reported its earning for 3Q ended 9/30/09 slipped by 5.3% versus its third quarter of '08 and its shares fell for the day more than 2%. JNJ has long been considered to be one of the pillars of the Dow 30 and the US' best managed health care firm. Up until '09, JNJ had increased its annualized rev for the past 35 consecutive years. Rev for its year ending 12/31/09 is expected to decline which will be the first in over 35 years. Large firms are falling by the wayside because they have gotten so big it is hard for them to grow. GE and JNJ were the leaders in consistently growing their dividends between '74 and '08. GE has long been considered as the US' biggest and best managed industrial firm. MSFT and GE have also fallen. GE's rev has been accelerating to the downside. Rev for its most recent quarter declined by 20% versus 3Q of '08. Recently the Dow closed above 10,000 for the first time in the last 12 months. Since the Dow was at 10,000 the Dow's dividend yield has fallen to 2.6% from 3.5% because of the slashing of dividends by GE and JPMMorgan; in the latest period, only 4 out of the 26 Dow nonfinancial firms were able to show rev increases over the last 12 months as compared to 24 out of 6 that had increasing rev over the prior year 12 mos earlier; unemployment has gone from 6 to 10%; and venerable long term growth firms like JNJ and MMSFT have jointed the ranks of the other Dow firms that are no longer able to sustain consistent rev increases.

BRN's pM12 "Research Reports" by Anita Peltonen says Collins Stewart issued a research report on Dec. 1 on Comcast as a hold at $14.66 and describes its deal with GE.

BRN's p37 "Roberts' Deal for NBC Universal: It's Comcasatic! by Eric J. Savitz says nearly 6 years afer making a failed $66 bil bid to acquire Disney, Comcast officially announced a deal last week to acquire majority control of NBC Universal from GE. What is surprising is that the combo has been engineered to sharply enhance Comcast's investment appeal which suddenly looks like a bargain.

Bus. Week p8 says it cost a bit more than Ge had hoped, $800 mil, but the sale of Vivendi's 20% stake in NBC Universal cleared the way for the Comcast sale of 51% of NBC Universal.

BRN's pM8 "Behind Vivendi's Laest Deals" by Vito J. Racanelli says Vivendi reeled off several big announcements recently. Vivendi said last week it agreed to sell the NBC Universal stake to GE. NBC was a drag on the valuation and the price was decent. Vivendi is still a cheap asset with a high dividend yield of 6.5%.

Bus Wk p35 "Why Dubai Matters" by Stanley Reed says the city-state's open economy has attracted legions of foreign investors and serves as a model for its gulf neighbors. It is the business gateway for a region with a $1 trillion economy, millions of eager young consumers, and hundreds of billions of petrodollars to invest. Microsoft, GE, Cisco Systems, and a host of other A-list multinationals have flocked to Dubai because of its open culture, top notch infrastructure, and hassle free business climate. Emirates, the airline founded in '85, is among the world's top 10 carriers and a major customer for both Airbus and Boeing.

Forbes p88 "REaching for Yield" by Emily Lambert says bonds issued by gib banks are paying attractive yields these days, although credit risk is a concern and among 5 examples listed are GE's 5.6% bond due '17 yielding 4.9% and JPMMorgan's 6/5 bonds due '17 yielding 5%.

Hewlett-Packard HPQ $49.84 +0.88 1.8% 18,258,205 NYSE: BRN's p36 "Taiwanese PC Maker Takes Aim at HP" by Leslie P. Norton says riding the success of its recent computer lines, Acer has jumped over Dell and now could overtake Hewlett-Packard as the No. 1 maker of PCs. In the 3Q of '09, about a year after the introduction of its hugely popular computer line, Acer overtook Dell Computer as the world's second largest PC maker. Acer's total PC sales reached 10.7 mil for 3Q, behind HP's 15.9 mil, but its sales are rising at a 16.6% clip, more than twice HP's 7% ratio. The market values HP, with about $54 bil in PC rev, at $118 bil. HP is a much larger and more diversified biz than Acer, but Acer's market value is $6.8 bil, less than half its $16 bil in PC sales. Price competition with HP and others may limit Acer's margin gains. Growing demand will drive sales higher but PC prices should be under pressure to come down. There is more demand coming from education and small biz markets helped by interest in Microsoft's Windows 7.

Story on Acer is at Forbes p44 "Acer's MObile Gamble" by Elizabeth Woyke that says the Taiwanese computer maker is betting big on smart phones.

Home Depot Home Depot HD $28.08 +0.15 0.54% 15,262,329 NYSE

Intel INTC $20.46 +0.59 2.97% 85,480,451 NASDAQ-GS: Bus. Week p80 "ell Me a Story, Inel" by Stephen H. Wildstrom profiles the Intel Reader that combines a digital camera, OCr, and speech synthesis that is designed to make printed matter accessible to millions of people who find reading difficult or impossible because of vision problems or learning disabilities. It is the product of Intel's new Digital Health Group.

BRN's p45 "In Harmony With Technology" by Lawrence C. Strauss who interviews Nick Thakore, Manger, Putnam Voyager Fund who likes Qualcom the dominant player in the wireless data arena. All consumer electronics, whether it's personal computers, cameras, TVs, GPS devices, portable gaming devices, are moving to be connected to the wireless network. Qualcomm will get paid for every device that gets connected to the wireless network. Both Verizon Communications and Best Buy herald this as the next big driver of wireless-data growth. A big risk for Qualcomm is competition with Intel on the PC side and it is reasonable to bleieve that on the wireless side Intel will get more aggressive. Also, DirectTV could be a valuable strategic asset to be acquired by AT&T or Verizon.

Equities p77 "Spotlight on Nasdaq" says in celebration of the launch of Windows 7, reps of MSFT presided over the bell ceremonies on 10/22 at NASDAQ. The Windows family of operating systems has held the dominant share of the market. Microsoft holds over 90% of the computer operating system market and Windows already owns around 4%. MSFT was founded in '75 and completed its ipo in '86. It has been a staple of the NASDAQ since. In '99, MSFT, along with Intel, became one of the first NASDAQ firms to be listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

IBM $127.3 -0.25 0.2% 6,784,691 NYSE: Bus Wk p65 "Why Copenhagen Will Be Good for Business" by John Carey says progress toward a climate deal at this week's (12/7) climate summit in Copenhagen would tip the balance toward renewables and create opportunities. Cisco Systems is outfitting four rooms in the city's Bella convention center with a giant screen teleconferencing system, enabling officials to confer facer to face with counterparts in 100 places around the world. IBM's business of helping firms measure their carbon footprints is growing now that the US will require emissions to be reported.


J.P.Morgan Chase JPM $41.79 +0.39 0.94% 57,787,509 NYSE: BRN's p35 "Approach Lions Gate With Caution" by Bob O'Briend says Lions Gate acquired this year TV Guide Network for $255 mil in cash, partially capitalized with a follow on sale of a partial interest in the network to the private equity arm of JPMorgan.

BRN's p27 Cover Story - Even Better Than Bonds" by Andrew Barry says certain investments like utility stocks and convertibles offer fat yields and a bulwark against rising rates or inflation. There is a list of examples of investments that can provide income like bonds, but are not likely to be hurt as much when interest rates climb. BofA's J Series Preferred Stock with an interest rate of 7.25% and a yield of 8.8% is listed under "Preferred Stock." Under Telecom Shares are both AT&T with a dividend yield of 6% and Verizon with a dividend yield of 5.8%. The article says other high yielders among big firms include Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck and Eli Lilly and Altria Group and Lorillard all yielding between 4% to 7%. JPMorgan's preferred has lower yields than Citigroup or Well Fargo reflecting Wall St.'s favorable view of JPMMorgan.

Equities p12 "With the Dow back at 10,000 are things better or worse? by Michael Markowski says recently, Johnson & Johnson reported its earning for 3Q ended 9/30/09 slipped by 5.3% versus its third quarter of '08 and its shares fell for the day more than 2%. JNJ has long been considered to be one of the pillars of the Dow 30 and the US' best managed health care firm. Up until '09, JNJ had increased its annualized rev for the past 35 consecutive years. Rev for its year ending 12/31/09 is expected to decline which will be the first in over 35 years. Large firms are falling by the wayside because they have gotten so big it is hard for them to grow. GE and JNJ were the leaders in consistently growing their dividends between '74 and '08. GE has long been considered as the US' biggest and best managed industrial firm. MSFT and GE have also fallen. GE's rev has been accelerating to the downside. Rev for its most recent quarter declined by 20% versus 3Q of '08. Recently the Dow closed above 10,000 for the first time in the last 12 months. Since the Dow was at 10,000 the Dow's dividend yield has fallen to 2.6% from 3.5% because of the slashing of dividends by GE and JPMMorgan; in the latest period, only 4 out of the 26 Dow nonfinancial firms were able to show rev increases over the last 12 months as compared to 24 out of 6 that had increasing rev over the prior year 12 mos earlier; unemployment has gone from 6 to 10%; and venerable long term growth firms like JNJ and MMSFT have jointed the ranks of the other Dow firms that are no longer able to sustain consistent rev increases.

Johnson & Johnson JNJ $64.34 +0.18 0.28% 13,634,226 NYSE: Barron's pM5 "Gold Diggers of '09, Beware" by Steven M. Sears says hedge funds are focusing on buying high yield, dividend paying stock as part of their '10 funding complex. The telecommunications, utility, master limited partnership and royalty trust sectors are attracting interest and so are staid blue chips like McDonalds, Verizon communications and Johnson & Johnson.

Equities p12 "With the Dow back at 10,000 are things better or worse? by Michael Markowski says recently, Johnson & Johnson reported its earning for 3Q ended 9/30/09 slipped by 5.3% versus its third quarter of '08 and its shares fell for the day more than 2%. JNJ has long been considered to be one of the pillars of the Dow 30 and the US' best managed health care firm. Up until '09, JNJ had increased its annualized rev for the past 35 consecutive years. Rev for its year ending 12/31/09 is expected to decline which will be the first in over 35 years. Large firms are falling by the wayside because they have gotten so big it is hard for them to grow. GE and JNJ were the leaders in consistently growing their dividends between '74 and '08. GE has long been considered as the US' biggest and best managed industrial firm. MSFT and GE have also fallen. GE's rev has been accelerating to the downside. Rev for its most recent quarter declined by 20% versus 3Q of '08. Recently the Dow closed above 10,000 for the first time in the last 12 months. Since the Dow was at 10,000 the Dow's dividend yield has fallen to 2.6% from 3.5% because of the slashing of dividends by GE and JPMMorgan; in the latest period, only 4 out of the 26 Dow nonfinancial firms were able to show rev increases over the last 12 months as compared to 24 out of 6 that had increasing rev over the prior year 12 mos earlier; unemployment has gone from 6 to 10%; and venerable long term growth firms like JNJ and MMSFT have jointed the ranks of the other Dow firms that are no longer able to sustain consistent rev increases.

Kraft KFT $26.57 +0.15 0.57% 12,497,843 NYSE: Bus Week p28 "John Paulson Returns to Earth" by Saijel Kishan says famed hedge fund manager is loading up on Kraft and likes such banks as BofA and Citi.

McDonald's MCD $61.55 -0.42 0.68% 9,193,084 NYSE: Barron's pM5 "Gold Diggers of '09, Beware" by Steven M. Sears says hedge funds are focusing on buying high yield, dividend paying stock as part of their '10 funding complex. The telecommunications, utility, master limited partnership and royalty trust sectors are attracting interest and so are staid blue chips like McDonalds, Verizon communications and Johnson & Johnson.

Merck MRK $36.64 -0.13 0.35% 14,237,188 NYSE: Forbes p56 "Zetia's Miraculous Popularity" by Matthew Herper says Merck's cholesterol lowering drug Zetia works by a little understood mode of action and no trials show that it prevents heart attacks. Yet Merck has convinced doctors to prescribe $21 bil worth of Zetia and its sister drug, Vytorin, which combines Zetia with Merck's old cholesterol drug Zocor. the drugs are on track to do $4 bil in combined sales this year, despite multiple studies suggesting they fail to prevent clogged arteries. last month Zetia got trounced by the B viamin niacin in a study that used ultrasound to examine dogged arteries. Zetia's rise was the miracle of marketing not the miracle of medicine. the problem is endemic to American medicine: New drugs get prescribed to too many people, too fast, while evidence on whether they really help patients is collected at a tortoises's pace. Merck took 3 years after launching Zetia to start a big trial to determine whether it prevents heat attacks which study won't finish until 2012. Lipitor, Zocor and other statins block production of cholesterol in the liver.

BRN's p27 Cover Story - Even Better Than Bonds" by Andrew Barry says certain investments like utility stocks and convertibles offer fat yields and a bulwark against rising rates or inflation. There is a list of examples of investments that can provide income like bonds, but are not likely to be hurt as much when interest rates climb. BofA's J Series Preferred Stock with an interest rate of 7.25% and a yield of 8.8% is listed under "Preferred Stock." Under Telecom Shares are both AT&T with a dividend yield of 6% and Verizon with a dividend yield of 5.8%. The article says other high yielders among big firms include Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck and Eli Lilly and Altria Group and Lorillard all yielding between 4% to 7%.

Microsoft MSFT $29.98 +0.15 0.5% 58,209,152 NASDAQ-GS: Equities p77 "Spotlight on Nasdaq" says in celebration of the launch of Windows 7, reps of MSFT presided over the bell ceremonies on 10/22 at NASDAQ. The Windows family of operating systems has held the dominant share of the market. Microsoft holds over 90% of the computer operating system market and Windows already owns around 4%. MSFT was founded in '75 and completed its ipo in '86. It has been a staple of the NASDAQ since. In '99, MSFT, along with Intel, became one of the first NASDAQ firms to be listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Bus Wk p54 "Philanthropy the Microsoft Way" by Jay Greene says Gates Foundation CEO Jeff Raikes left MMicrosoft where he was the 3rd most powerful exec to push the Gates Foundation to make big bets and demand measurable results.

Equities p12 "With the Dow back at 10,000 are things better or worse? by Michael Markowski says recently, Johnson & Johnson reported its earning for 3Q ended 9/30/09 slipped by 5.3% versus its third quarter of '08 and its shares fell for the day more than 2%. JNJ has long been considered to be one of the pillars of the Dow 30 and the US' best managed health care firm. Up until '09, JNJ had increased its annualized rev for the past 35 consecutive years. Rev for its year ending 12/31/09 is expected to decline which will be the first in over 35 years. Large firms are falling by the wayside because they have gotten so big it is hard for them to grow. GE and JNJ were the leaders in consistently growing their dividends between '74 and '08. GE has long been considered as the US' biggest and best managed industrial firm. MSFT and GE have also fallen. GE's rev has been accelerating to the downside. Rev for its most recent quarter declined by 20% versus 3Q of '08. Recently the Dow closed above 10,000 for the first time in the last 12 months. Since the Dow was at 10,000 the Dow's dividend yield has fallen to 2.6% from 3.5% because of the slashing of dividends by GE and JPMMorgan; in the latest period, only 4 out of the 26 Dow nonfinancial firms were able to show rev increases over the last 12 months as compared to 24 out of 6 that had increasing rev over the prior year 12 mos earlier; unemployment has gone from 6 to 10%; and venerable long term growth firms like JNJ and MMSFT have jointed the ranks of the other Dow firms that are no longer able to sustain consistent rev increases.

BRN's p36 "Taiwanese PC Maker Takes Aim at HP" by Leslie P. Norton says riding the success of its recent computer lines, Acer has jumped over Dell and now could overtake Hewlett-Packard as the No. 1 maker of PCs. In the 3Q of '09, about a year after the introduction of its hugely popular computer line, Acer overtook Dell Computer as the world's second largest PC maker. Acer's total PC sales reached 10.7 mil for 3Q, behind HP's 15.9 mil, but its sales are rising at a 16.6% clip, more than twice HP's 7% ratio. The market values HP, with about $54 bil in PC rev, at $118 bil. HP is a much larger and more diversified biz than Acer, but Acer's market value is $6.8 bil, less than half its $16 bil in PC sales. Price competition with HP and others may limit Acer's margin gains. Growing demand will drive sales higher but PC prices should be under pressure to come down. There is more demand coming from education and small biz markets helped by interest in Microsoft's Windows 7.

Bus Wk p35 "Why Dubai Matters" by Stanley Reed says the city-state's open economy has attracted legions of foreign investors and serves as a model for its gulf neighbors. It is the business gateway for a region with a $1 trillion economy, millions of eager young consumers, and hundreds of billions of petrodollars to invest. Microsoft, GE, Cisco Systems, and a host of other A-list multinationals have flocked to Dubai because of its open culture, top notch infrastructure, and hassle free business climate. Emirates, the airline founded in '85, is among the world's top 10 carriers and a major customer for both Airbus and Boeing.

Pfizer PFE $18.49 -0.15 0.8% 44,075,773 NYSE: Forbes p104 "Tax Snitches Are On The Loose" by Janet Novack, William P. Barrett gives an example of in sept., a whistleblower was awarded $51.5 mil for gingering Pfizer's illicit marketing of the painkiller Bextra.

Procter & Gamble PG $62.6 +0.04 0.06% 11,228,638 NYSE: BRN's pM3 "December's Rehearsal for 2010" by Kopin Tan says stocks' nine month rally is maturing. Financial shares that led the '09 charge are struggling, even as bellwethers like Bank of America raised $19 bil last week toward repaying the $45 bil it owes taxpayers. At these levels, analysts run out of stocks to upgrade, so the downgrade cycle begins. Mark Phelps, CEO of investment adviser W.P. Stewart likes big, well-oiled multinational firms with increasing overseas clout such as Ym! Brands, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and Becton Dickinson.

3M MMM $78.24 +1.09 1.41% 4,366,365 NYSE: BRN's p21 "Week Preview" says on Tues. 12/8 3M gives investors its outlook.

Bus. Wk p20 "the Battle Raging Inside GM" by David Welch say on 12/1 GM ousted its CEO Frederick A. Fritz Henderson as CEO. 5 possible replacements are pictured including George Buckley, CEO of 3M saying he brought creativity back to 3M and is known as a strong leader and could help overhaul GM's culture and Denny Strigl, Pres. of Verizon Communications saying he is a rising star who has helped run a money maker and made it a mobile services leader.

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: BRN's p21 "Week Preview" says on Thurs. 12/10 United Technologies has a meeting with investors.

Verizon VZ $32.7 +0.01 0.03% 15,323,018 NYSE: Forbes p138 "Income during Inflation" by Steve H. Hanke says with its acquisition this year of Alltel, Verizon Communications has a customer base equal to 30% of the US population. Annual rev growth over the past 10 years has averaged 11.9%. But Verizon is not receiving much credit for its rapidly growing wireless biz (it owns 55% of Verizon Wireless). The segment is growing at an annual rate of 17% and is now larger than the wire line side of the biz. The dividend yield is 6.4%.

Barron's pM5 "Gold Diggers of '09, Beware" by Steven M. Sears says hedge funds are focusing on buying high yield, dividend paying stock as part of their '10 funding complex. The telecommunications, utility, master limited partnership and royalty trust sectors are attracting interest and so are staid blue chips like McDonalds, Verizon Communications and Johnson & Johnson.

BRN's p27 Cover Story - Even Better Than Bonds" by Andrew Barry says certain investments like utility stocks and convertibles offer fat yields and a bulwark against rising rates or inflation. There is a list of examples of investments that can provide income like bonds, but are not likely to be hurt as much when interest rates climb. BofA's J Series Preferred Stock with an interest rate of 7.25% and a yield of 8.8% is listed under "Preferred Stock." Under Telecom Shares are both AT&T with a dividend yield of 6% and Verizon with a dividend yield of 5.8%.

BRN's p45 "In Harmony With Technology" by Lawrence C. Strauss who interviews Nick Thakore, Manger, Putnam Voyager Fund who likes Qualcom the dominant player in the wireless data arena. All consumer electronics, whether it's personal computers, cameras, TVs, GPS devices, portable gaming devices, are moving to be connected to the wireless network. Qualcomm will get paid for every device that gets connected to the wireless network. Both Verizon Communications and Best Buy herald this as the next big driver of wireless-data growth. A big risk for Qualcomm is competition with Intel on the PC side and it is reasonable to bleieve that on the wireless side Intel will get more aggressive. Also, DirectTV could be a valuable strategic asset to be acquired by AT&T or Verizon.

Walmart WMT $54.24 -0.20 0.37% 11,099,015 NYSE: Bus. Wk p8 says the holiday shopping season is becoming longer partly because Walmart and Amazon.com launched discounts and other promotions as early as Oct.

NYT p8 "When the Performance Looks a Little Too Good" by Mark Hulbert says there are some retailers such as Sanminia-Sci, an electronics services supplier that have weaker financial statements than WalMart but whose shares are outperforming Walmart's. Walmart Stores ahs lots of cash on its balance sheet, has very little debt, and has consistently turned a profit. Since March 9, its shares have gained just 14%. The disparate treatment between Walmart and these other retailers by the stock market highlights an unusual and in some ways, worrisome phenomenon: to an extent not seen in decades, shares of firms with weak balance sheets have been soaring, generally outperforming firms with stronger fundamentals. This is due to the terrible pummeling given to riskier assets of all kinds during the worst months of the financial crisis.

Bus Wk p64 "RadioShack's Wireless Ambitions" by Matthew Boyle says this firm is shifting toward selling wireless gear and they are also trying to compete with Best Buy and WalMart.

***************
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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