1/14/10 Thurs. pm Dow Closes 10,710.55 up 29.78 or 0.28%

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Post #243 The following is brought to you by Intellivest Securities Research, Inc. Towards the end of this Blog is a list of the Dow 30 current CEOs, a ranking of the Dow 30 components by market capitalization as of 1/13/10 and an update of the Dow 30component's most recent SEC filings as of 1/13/10.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Thursday at 10,710.55 up 29.78 or 0.28%from Wednesday's close of 10,680.77. Of the 30 Dow Companies: 19 gained and 11 declined. The biggest gainer dollar-wise was IBM $132.31 +2.08 1.6% 7,062,836 NYSE and percentage-wise was Merck NYSE. The biggest decliner dollar-wise and percentage-wise was Verizon VZ $31.22 -0.65 2.04% 20,794,969 MRK $39.99 +1.06 2.72% 21,174,702NYSE.

As of the open of the market Thursday, the current divisor for the Dow found at page C4 of today's Wall St. Jrnl is .132319125 unchanged, the trailing P/E ratio is 18.23 up from Wednesday morning's 18.15 (year ago it was 17.78) the P/E estimate is 13.75 unchanged from Tuesday's 13.75 (year ago it was 10.58) and the current dividend yield is 2.56 down from Wednesday's 2.57 (it was 3.83 a year ago).

Thursday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing numerator was 1,417.21 up 3.94 from Wednesday's closing Dow numerator of 1413.27. 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 3.94 for Thursday by the divisor you get the increase in Thursday's Dow close of 29.78.

The average closing price (the closing numerator divided by 30) of Thursday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was 47.24 up 0.13 from Wednesday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing price of $47.11. The median closing price of Thursday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was 43.69 up 0.46 from Wednesday's $43.23. The lowest volume again was 3M MMM $83.5 -0.28 0.33% 2,631,036 NYSE and the highest volume again was Bank of Am BAC $16.82 +0.20 1.2% 141,301,481 NYSE.

If Thursday 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 $483 ($141,810 - $141,327).


Thursday's Closing Dow closing numbers:
Symb/Last/Change/% Change/Vol./Market

AT&T T $26.19 -0.45 1.69% 42,122,900 NYSE
Alcoa AA $15.81 -0.17 1.06% 31,945,845 NYSE
American Express AXP $42.68 +0.53 1.26% 8,158,446 NYSE
Bank of America BAC $16.82 +0.20 1.2% 141,301,481 NYSE
Boeing BA $61.56 +0.40 0.65% 2,938,198 NYSE
Caterpillar CAT $61.98 -0.35 0.56% 6,117,190 NYSE
Chevron CVX $79.55 -0.25 0.31% 6,704,617 NYSE
Cisco CSCO $24.95 +0.31 1.26% 51,973,027 NASDAQ-GS
Coca-Cola KO $57.13 +0.10 0.18% 6,184,151 NYSE
Disney DIS $31.02 -0.27 0.86% 9,219,183 NYSE
DuPont DD $34.09 -0.21 0.61% 4,341,839 NYSE
ExxonMobil XOM $69.68 +0.01 0.01% 18,457,955 NYSE
GE $16.7 -0.13 0.77% 53,931,570 NYSE
Hewlett-Packard HPQ $52.51 +0.29 0.56% 15,982,608 NYSE
Home Depot HD $28.3 0.17 +0.6% 13,123,344 NYSE
Intel INTC $21.48 +0.52 2.48% 130,403,979 NASDAQ-GS
IBM $132.31 +2.08 1.6% 7,062,836 NYSE
J.P.Morgan Chase JPM $44.69 +0.44 0.99% 37,594,157 NYSE
Johnson & Johnson JNJ $65.1 +0.13 0.2% 7,782,478 NYSE
Kraft KFT $29.12 -0.11 0.38% 9,896,903 NYSE
McDonald's MCD $62.65 +0.06 0.1% 7,085,570 NYSE
Merck MRK $39.99 +1.06 2.72% 21,174,702 NYSE
Microsoft MSFT $30.96 +0.61 2.01% 62,135,159 NASDAQ-GS
Pfizer PFE $19.38 +0.17 0.88% 47,162,126 NYSE
Procter & Gamble PG $61.58 +0.06 0.1% 9,030,506 NYSE
3M MMM $83.5 -0.28 0.33% 2,631,036 NYSE
Travelers TRV $49.28 +0.26 0.53% 2,640,209 NYSE
United Technologies UTX $72.81 +0.25 0.34% 3,548,447 NYSE
Verizon VZ $31.22 -0.65 2.04% 20,794,969 NYSE
WalMart WMT $54.21 -0.80 1.45% 13,671,251 NYSE
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The following are excerpts from this morning's Blog:

A read of Thursday's print editions of: The Wall St. Journal, Financial Times, The New York Times, Investor's Business Daily, USA Today, Atlanta Journal Constitution & (Ga) Daily Report 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 Wednesday's closing price and related data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Wednesday at 10,680.77 up 53.51 or 0.5% from Tuesday's close of 10,627.26. Year to date the Dow is up 2.42%. Of the 30 Dow Companies: 22 gained and 8 declined. The biggest gainer dollar-wise and percentage-wise was Merck MRK $38.97 +1.42 3.78% 22,860,821 NYSE. The biggest decliner dollar-wise was Chevron CVX $79.85 -0.56 0.7% 8,954,457 NYSE and percentage-wise was AT&T T $26.68 -0.28 1.04% 38,648,850 NYSE.

WSJ pC1 Merck's Jump Pushes Up Dow by 53.51" by Peter A. McKay says stocks gained on Wed amid optimism that earnings season will improve from a shaky start and as drug makers were buoyed by an analyst upgrade of Merck. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5% led by a 3.7 gain in Merck as Credit Suisse raised its rating on it to outperform from neutral and boosted its target price. Investors largely ignored the grilling on Wall St. bank ceos in D.C. and instead focused on expectations for strong earnings from the fin'l sector. JPMorgan Chase is scheduled to release its results on Fri., the first major bank to report. Depsite disappointing results from Alcoa and other bellwethers earlier in the week, most investors still are expecting reports in the next few weeks to help underpin stocks. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.1% helped by a 1.7% gain in INtel ahead of its earnings report due after Thurs.'s close.

WSJ pC5 "Merck, JP Morgan, BofA Give Dow a Lift" by Donna Kardos Yesalavich says stocks rose as an analyst's rating upgrade of Merck lifted the health care sector, while financial stocks, including J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America, climbed during a hearing over the financial crisis on Capital Hill. Merck was the Dow's best performer, with a jump of 3.7%, after Credit Suisse raised its rating and also boosted its target price of Merck's shares, citing strong expectations from the drug makers pipeline. The upgrade lifted the sector, with Pfizer climbing 2.3%. Energy components Chevron and Exxon Mobil kept the Dow's gains in check as Chevron fell0.8% and Exxon obil dropped 0.4% after the fed gov reported a bigger than expected increase in crude oil inventories.

Fin Times p26 "Gains for fin'ls help S&P 500 recover lost ground" by Samantha Pearson says a rally among financial stocks helped Wall St. to shrug off a sharp drop in the oil price and push higher yesterday. The S&P 500 financial sector gained 1.2% while Bank of America was up 1.6% after execs defended their actions to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, Kraft, the world's second largest food group, had initially boosted confidence across the market by saying that profit last year was higher than analysts had expected Kraft lost 0.l2 and was in focus following reports that Italy's Ferrero has decided to pull out of the running for Cadbury.

NYT pB3 has the same story as USA Today by AP but NYT has a different headline, "Markets Gain After Testimony of Bankers" while at USA Today it is "USA Today p4B "Calm bank hearings help push stocks up" by AP. Both say the stock market closed higher Wed, following the lead of financial stocks as the heads of several big banks testified before Congress about the financial crisis.

Inv. Bus. Daily pA1 "Dip In Trade takes Joy Out of Gains" by Paul Whitfield says stocks shook off early weakness to post nice gains Wed, but volume was done. Wednesday's action was up in lower volume. The current outlook is market is in confirmed uptrend.

Wednesday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing numerator was 1,413.27 up 7.08 from Tuesday's closing Dow numerator of 1406.19. 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 7.08 for Wednesday by the divisor you get the increase in Wednesday's Dow close of 53.51.

The average closing price (the closing numerator divided by 30) of Wednesday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was 47.11 up 0.14 from Tuesday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing price of $46.97. The median closing price of Wednesday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was 43.23 up 0.47 from Tuesday's $42.76. The lowest volume was 3M MMM $83.78 -0.27 0.32% 3,052,800 NYSE and the highest volume again was Bank of Am BAC $16.635 +0.275 1.68% 182,682,259 NYSE.

If Wednesday 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 $417 ($141,327 - $140,910).


AT&T T $26.68 -0.28 1.04% 38,648,850 NYSE: No mentions found.

Alcoa AA $15.98 +0.46 2.96% 56,374,264 NYSE: WSJ pC1 Merck's Jump Pushes Up Dow by 53.51" by Peter A. McKay says stocks gained on Wed amid optimism that earnings season will improve from a shaky start and as drug makers were buoyed by an analyst upgrade of Merck. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5% led by a 3.7 gain in Merck as Credit Suisse raised its rating on it to outperform from neutral and boosted its target price. Investors largely ignored the grilling on Wall St. bank ceos in D.C. and instead focused on expectations for strong earnings from the fin'l sector. JPMorgan Chase is scheduled to release its results on Fri., the first major bank to report. Depsite disappointing results from Alcoa and other bellwethers earlier in the week, most investors still are expecting reports in the next few weeks to help underpin stocks. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.1% helped by a 1.7% gain in nNtel ahead of its earnings report due after Thurs.'s close.

American Express AXP $42.13 +0.11 0.26% 9,014,573 NYSE: No mentions found.

Bank of America BAC $16.635 +0.275 1.68% 182,682,259 NYSE: Fin Times pA1 "Wall St. bankers on defensive in grilling over financial crisis" by Tom Braithwaite, Francesco Guerrera, WSJ pA1 "Panel Rips Wall Street Titans" by John D. McKinnon, Michael R. Crittenden, NYT pB1 "Few Burns for 4 Bankers on theHot Seat" by Mmark Leibovich & USA Today p1B "Bank execs take blame" by Paul Wiseman say comparing Wall St. titans to shady car salesmen, a committee investigating the financial crisis grilled the nation's top bankers Wed in the latest example of DC's smoldering anger at an industry many feel hasn't atoned for its role in the slump. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon was grilled as was Goldman's CEO. Dimon said the solution is not to cap the size of financial firms but to have rules allowing for an orderly wind down of failed banks. Brian Moynihan of Bank of America was also grilled.

WSJ pC5 "Merck, JP Morgan, BofA Give Dow a Lift" by Donna Kardos Yesalavich says stocks rose as an analyst's rating upgrade of Merck lifted the health care sector, while financial stocks, including J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America, climbed during a hearing over the financial crisis on Capital Hill. Merck was the Dow's best performer, with a jump of 3.7%, after Credit Suisse raised its rating and also boosted its target price of Merck's shares, citing strong expectations from the drug makers pipeline. The upgrade lifted the sector, with Pfizer climbing 2.3%. Energy components Chevron and Exxon Mobil kept the Dow's gains in check as Chevron fell0.8% and Exxon Mobil dropped 0.4% after the fed gov reported a bigger than expected increase in crude oil inventories.

Fin Times p26 "Gains for fin'ls help S&P 500 recover lost ground" by Samantha Pearson says a rally among financial stocks helped Wall St. to shrug off a sharp drop in the oil price and push higher yesterday. The S&P 500 financial sector gained 1.2% while Bank of America was up 1.6% after execs defended their actions to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, Kraft, the world's second largest food group, had initially boosted confidence across the market by saying that profit last year was higher than analysts had expected Kraft lost 0.l2 and was in focus following reports that Italy's Ferrero has decided to pull out of the running for Cadbury.

WSJ pC3 "Lewis Loses a Close Adviser" by Dan Fitzpatrick says 5 days after Kenneth Lewis retired as Bank of America's CEO, his Mon died, Alice Byrdine Lewis, who lived in Blakely, Ga. was 85.

Boeing BA $61.24 +0.81 1.34% 4,363,464 NYSE: No mentions found.

Caterpillar CAT $62.33 +0.09 0.14% 7,859,892 NYSE: No mentions found.

Chevron CVX $79.85 -0.56 0.7% 8,954,457 NYSE: WSJ pC5 "Merck, JP morgan, BofA Give Dow a Lift" by Donna Kardos Yesalavich says stocks rose as an analyst's rating upgrade of Merck lifted the health care sector, while financial stocks, including J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America, climbed during a hearing over the financial crisis on Capital Hill. Merck was the Dow's best performer, with a jump of 3.7%, after Credit Suisse raised its rating and also boosted its target price of Merck's shares, citing strong expectations from the drug makers pipeline. The upgrade lifted the sector, with Pfizer climbing 2.3%. Energy components Chevron and Exxon Mobil kept the Dow's gains in check as Chevron fell0.8% and Exxon Mobil dropped 0.4% after the fed gov reported a bigger than expected increase in crude oil inventories.

Cisco CSCO $24.64 +0.44 1.82% 42,838,335 NASDAQ-GS: WSJ pB1 "H-P, Microsoft partner Against Rivals" by Nick Wingfield, Justin Scheck says Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft said they will invest $250 mil in a partnership to more tightly couple their software and hardware products, as rivals Oracle, IBM and others make themselves as one stop shops for technology. HP and Microsoft said the 3 year agreement will involve an array of initiatives, all aimed at helping businesses reduce some of the headaches of setting up and operating data centers, the backrooms that house corporate software and computer equipment. The deal is another sign of the deeper integration that tech firms hope to achieve with products once primarily sold as separate components by different suppliers. That placed the burden on customers to assemble and test all of the products. HP and Microsoft have agreed to sell packages of servers, network gear, storage and common Microsoft business apps such as Exchange email and SQL database software. HPQ is invading Cisco Systems' turf with an agreement to acquire networking gear maker 3Com Corp. for $2.7 bil, and Cisco is trying to elbow its way into HP territory with new server products.

Coca-Cola KO $57.05 +0.17 0.3% 6,865,447 NYSE: No mentions found.

Disney DIS $31.2821 +0.4621 1.5% 8,747,373 NYSE: No mentions found.

DuPont DD $34.29 +0.29 0.85% 4,673,715 NYSE: No mentions found.

ExxonMobil XOM $69.75 -0.20 0.29% 22,334,356 NYSE: WSJ pC5 "Merck, JP morgan, BofA Give Dow a Lift" by Donna Kardos Yesalavich says stocks rose as an analyst's rating upgrade of Merck lifted the health care sector, while financial stocks, including J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America, climbed during a hearing over the financial crisis on Capital Hill. Merck was the Dow's best performer, with a jump of 3.7%, after Credit Suisse raised its rating and also boosted its target price of Merck's shares, citing strong expectations from the drug makers pipeline. The upgrade lifted the sector, with Pfizer climbing 2.3%. Energy components Chevron and Exxon Mobil kept the Dow's gains in check as Chevron fell0.8% and Exxon obil dropped 0.4% after the fed gov reported a bigger than expected increase in crude oil inventories.

GE $16.86 +0.09 0.54% 59,944,227 NYSE: WSJ pB7 "Siemens names US Unit's Cief" by Paul Glader says Siemens competes in many business areas against G. Siemens, German based, has stepped up its presence in DC in the past year in this story saying Siemens selected consultant Eric Spiegel as pres and CEO of its US div.

WSJ pB0 "Tonight Sow Viewership Rises Amid Turmoil" by Sam Schechner says GE's NBC and Conan O'Brien are in a game of brinkmanship over the future of the show while O'Brien's audience has surged especially among younger people. About 42% of viewers between 18 and 49 watched the show with Conan Tues compared with a day earlier.

Hewlett-Packard HPQ $52.29 +0.32 0.62% 10,800,459 NYSE: WSJ pB4 "PC Shiments Surge 15% Globally" by Ben Charny says US holiday shoppers snapped up low priced notebook computers, leading to the strongest quarter of PC shipments in more than ayear. No 1 PC shipper Hewlett-Packard with a 20.7% market share world wide, outperformed the market everywhere except in Europe, the Mid East and Africa.

Inv. Bus Daily pA2 & WSJ pB1 "H-P, Microsoft partner Against Rivals" by Nick Wingfield, Justin Scheck says Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft said they will invest $250 mil in a partnership to more tightly couple their software and hardware products, as rivals Oracle, IBM and others make themselves as one stop shops for technology. HP and Microsoft said the 3 year agreement will involve an array of initiatives, all aimed at helping businesses reduce some of the headaches of setting up and operating data centers, the backrooms that house corporate software and computer equipment. The deal is another sign of the deeper integration that tech firms hope to achieve with products once primarily sold as separate components by different suppliers. That placed the burden on customers to assemble and test all of the products. HP and Microsoft have agreed to sell packages of servers, network gear, storage and common Microsoft business apps such as Exchange email and SQL database software.

Home Depot HD $28.18 +0.20 0.71% 14,447,936 NYSE: No mentions found.

Intel INTC $20.96 +0.352 1.71% 70,539,281 NASDAQ-GS: WSJ pC1 "In What Direction Will Intel Point US?" by Kelly Evans says Intel's earnings growth last year helped power gains in the stock market and signaled recovery in the broader economy. Intel's predictive power is worth keeping in mind should its 4Q earnings report on Thurs. disappoint. It is expected to post earnings of 30 cents a share, up from 4 cents in 4Q of '08. Intel's rev is forecast to hit $10.2 bil up 23%. It has benefited from a stronger recovery in demand for servers and pcs than initially expected. Intel makes chips. Consumer electronics were a bright spot of the holiday sales season. Its shares have surged 67% since Mark outpacing the Dow's 63% gain. Some say Intel has further to rise.

WSJ pC1 Merck's Jump Pushes Up Dow by 53.51" by Peter A. McKay says stocks gained on Wed amid optimism that earnings season will improve from a shaky start and as drug makers were buoyed by an analyst upgrade of Merck. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5% led by a 3.7 gain in Merck as Credit Suisse raised its rating on it to outperform from neutral and boosted its target price. Investors largely ignored the grilling on Wall St. bank ceos in D.C. and instead focused on expectations for strong earnings from the fin'l sector. JPMorgan Chase is scheduled to release its results on Fri., the first major bank to report. Depsite disappointing results from Alcoa and other bellwethers earlier in the week, most investors still are expecting reports in the next few weeks to help underpin stocks. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.1% helped by a 1.7% gain in INtel ahead of its earnings report due after Thurs.'s close.

IBM $130.29 -0.22 0.17% 5,867,436 NYSE: WSJ pB1 "H-P, Microsoft partner Against Rivals" by Nick Wingfield, Justin Scheck says Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft said they will invest $250 mil in a partnership to more tightly couple their software and hardware products, as rivals Oracle, IBM and others make themselves as one stop shops for technology. HP and Microsoft said the 3 year agreement will involve an array of initiatives, all aimed at helping businesses reduce some of the headaches of setting up and operating data centers, the backrooms that house corporate software and computer equipment. The deal is another sign of the deeper integration that tech firms hope to achieve with products once primarily sold as separate components by different suppliers. That placed the burden on customers to assemble and test all of the products. HP and Microsft have agreed to sell packages of servers, network gear, storage and common Microsoft business apps such as Exchange email and SQL database software.

J.P.Morgan Chase JPM $44.33 +0.84 1.93% 35,569,512 NYSE: WSJ pC1 Merck's Jump Pushes Up Dow by 53.51" by Peter A. McKay says stocks gained on Wed amid optimism that earnings season will improve from a shaky start and as drug makers were buoyed by an analyst upgrade of Merck. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5% led by a 3.7 gain in Merck as Credit Suisse raised its rating on it to outperform from neutral and boosted its target price. Investors largely ignored the grilling on Wall St. bank ceos in D.C. and instead focused on expectations for strong earnings from the fin'l sector. JPMorgan Chase is scheduled to release its results on Fri., the first major bank to report. Depsite disappointing results from Alcoa and other bellwethers earlier in the week, most investors still are expecting reports in the next few weeks to help underpin stocks. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.1% helped by a 1.7% gain in Intel ahead of its earnings report due after Thurs.'s close.

WSJ pC5 "Merck, JP Morgan, BofA Give Dow a Lift" by Donna Kardos Yesalavich says stocks rose as an analyst's rating upgrade of Merck lifted the health care sector, while financial stocks, including J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America, climbed during a hearing over the financial crisis on Capital Hill. Merck was the Dow's best performer, with a jump of 3.7%, after Credit Suisse raised its rating and also boosted its target price of Merck's shares, citing strong expectations from the drug makers pipeline. The upgrade lifted the sector, with Pfizer climbing 2.3%. Energy components Chevron and Exxon Mobil kept the Dow's gains in check as Chevron fell0.8% and Exxon obil dropped 0.4% after the fed gov reported a bigger than expected increase in crude oil inventories.

Fin Times pA1 "Wall St. bankers on defensive in grilling over financial crisis" by Tom Braithwaite, Francesco Guerrera, WSJ pA1 "Panel Rips Wall Street Titans" by John D. McKinnon, Michael R. Crittenden, NYT pB1 "Few Burns for 4 Bankers on the Hot Seat" byMmark Leibovich & USA Today p1B "Bank execs take blame" by Paul Wiseman say comparing Wall St. titans to shady car salesmen, a committee investigating the financial crisis grilled the nation's top bankers Wed in the latest example of DC's smoldering anger at an industry many feel hasn't atoned for its role in the slump. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon was grilled as was Goldman's CEO. Dimon said the solution is not to cap the size of financial firms but to have rules allowing for an orderly wind down of failed banks. Brian Moynihan of Bank of America was also grilled.

WSJ pC10 "Overheard" says JPMorgan Chase ceo James Dimon hung around after his grilling by the Fin'l Crisis Inquiry Committee on Wed to take questions from reporters unlike Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein who left after his grilling.

Johnson & Johnson JNJ $65.05 +0.49 0.76% 9,961,559 NYSE: No mentions found.

Kraft KFT $29.25 -0.04 0.14% 17,266,120 NYSE: Fin Times p1 "Hershey prepares to bid for Cadbury" by Greg Farrell, Justin Baer, Jenny Wiggins, Kate Burgess says Hershey is preparing a counter bid to Kraft's $16.9bil for Cadbury. After extensive internal debate between Hershey and the charitable trust that controls it, Hershey has authorized an offer Cadbury and a formal offer could be made by the 1/23 deadline to enter the fray. Also reported at USA Today p1B.

NYT pB2 says Kraft should not budge on its offer for Cadbury but assumes that Hershey will not make an offer so NYT didn't know the latest about Hershey's move.

Fin Times p26 "Gains for fin'ls help S&P 500 recover lost ground" by Samantha Pearson says a rally among financial stocks helped Wall St. to shrug off a sharp drop in the oil price and push higher yesterday. The S&P 500 financial sector gained 1.2% while Bank of America was up 1.6% after execs defended their actions to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, Kraft, the world's second largest food group, had initially boosted confidence across the market by saying that profit last year was higher than analysts had expected Kraft lost 0.l2 and was in focus following reports that Italy's Ferrero has decided to pull out of the running for Cadbury.

McDonald's MCD $62.6 -0.06 0.1% 7,621,346 NYSE: No mentions found.

Merck MRK $38.97 +1.42 3.78% 22,860,821 NYSE: WSJ pC5 "The Good News" charts Merck saying Credit Suisse its rating on the stock to outperform from neutral and boosted its traget price to 47 from 35.

Inv. Bus. Daily pA2 "Merk up on anti-clotting drug" says Credit Suisse said Merck's nti-clotting drug candidate TRA should give investors optimism as should 3 other experimnetal drugs Merck has including its hepatitis C drug.

WSJ pC1 Merck's Jump Pushes Up Dow by 53.51" by Peter A. McKay says stocks gained on Wed amid optimism that earnings season will improve from a shaky start and as drug makers were buoyed by an analyst upgrade of Merck. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5% led by a 3.7 gain in Merck as Credit Suisse raised its rating on it to outperform from neutral and boosted its target price. Investors largely ignored the grilling on Wall St. bank ceos in D.C. and instead focused on expectations for strong earnings from the fin'l sector. JPMorgan Chase is scheduled to release its results on Fri., the first major bank to report. Depsite disappointing results from Alcoa and other bellwethers earlier in the week, most investors still are expecting reports in the next few weeks to help underpin stocks. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.1% helped by a 1.7% gain in INtel ahead of its earnings report due after Thurs.'s close.

WSJ pC5 "Merck, JPMmorgan, BofA Give Dow a Lift" by Donna Kardos Yesalavich says stocks rose as an analyst's rating upgrade of Merck lifted the health care sector, while financial stocks, including J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America, climbed during a hearing over the financial crisis on Capital Hill. Merck was the Dow's best performer, with a jump of 3.7%, after Credit Suisse raised its rating and also boosted its target price on Merck's shares, citing strong expectations from the drug makers pipeline. the upgrade lifted the sector, with Pfizer climbing 2.3%. Energy components Chevron and Exxon Mobil kept the Dow's gains in check as Chevron fell0.8% and Exxon obil dropped 0.4% after the fed gov reported a bigger than expected increase in crude oil inventories.

WSJ pC5 "Rating Move Spurs Options Activity in merck" by Tennille Tracy says Wall St. analysts raised ratings on several firms, including Merck and Joy Global, prompting a flurry of option trades in those names in Merck's case, trading jumped to 4 times the normal level.

Microsoft MSFT $30.35 +0.28 0.93% 48,175,820 NASDAQ-GS: Inv. Bus Daily pA2 & pA4 "Microsoft, HP Team In Cloud Computing With $250 Mil Pact" by J. Bonasia & WSJ pB1 "H-P, Microsoft partner Against Rivals" by Nick Wingfield, Justin Scheck say Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft said they will invest $250 mil in a partnership to more tightly couple their software and hardware products, as rivals Oracle, IBM and others make themselves as one stop shops for technology. HP and Microsoft said the 3 year agreement will involve an array of initiatives, all aimed at helping businesses reduce some of the headaches of setting up and operating data centers, the backrooms that house corporate software and computer equipment. The deal is another sign of the deeper integration that tech firms hope to achieve with products once primarily sold as separate components by different suppliers. Tthat placed the bureon on customers to assemble and test all fo the products. HP and Microsoft have agreed to sell packages of servers, network gear, storage and common Microsoft business apps such as Exchange email and SQL database software. HPQ is invading Cisco Systems' turf with an agreement to acquire networking gear maker 3Com Corp. for $2.7 bil, and Cisco is trying to elbow its way into HP territory with new server products.

WSJ pB2 "AP, Yayoo near Deal on Content use" by Russell Adams says taking a step toward mapping the future of online news, the AP and Yahoo are closing in on a deal that would impose tighter restrictions and higher price tag on AP stories distributed on Yahoo's news site. The AP has been haggling with Google, Microsoft and yahoo over new terms that would govern the portals' distribution of AP news articles, and the pressure on all parties is mounting as deadlines approach.

WSJ pA1 "US Holds Fire in Google-China Feud" by Jay Solomon, Ian Johnson, Jason Dean says US gov officials and biz leaders a sign of the delicate tensions between the growing superpower and the West. Microsoft which also offers search and email services, said it wasn't targeted in the attacks cited by Google. Also reported at USA p#b by Byron Acohido, Kathy Chu.

WSJ pA14 "Security Tips To Protect computers From Scams" by Ben Worthen says you should install software patches from firms such as Microsoft who are constantly issuing small updates to the Windows operating system.

Pfizer PFE $19.25 +0.48 2.56% 51,782,329 NYSE: WSJ pC5 "Merck, JP morgan, BofA Give Dow a Lift" by Donna Kardos Yesalavich says stocks rose as an analyst's rating upgrade of Merck lifted the health care sector, while financial stocks, including J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America, climbed during a hearing over the financial crisis on Capital Hill. Merck was the Dow's best performer, with a jump of 3.7%, after Credit Suisse raised its rating and also boosted its target price of Merck's shares, citing strong expectations from the drug makers pipeline. The upgrade lifted the sector, with Pfizer climbing 2.3%. Energy components Chevron and Exxon Mobil kept the Dow's gains in check as Chevron fell0.8% and Exxon obil dropped 0.4% after the fed gov reported a bigger than expected increase in crude oil inventories.

Procter & Gamble PG $61.52 +0.63 1.03% 16,442,297 NYSE: No mentions found.

3M MMM $83.78 -0.27 0.32% 3,052,800 NYSE: No mentions found.

Travelers TRV $49.02 +0.17 0.35% 3,299,085 NYSE: No mentions found.

United Technologies UTX $72.56 +0.82 1.14% 4,811,299 NYSE: No mentions found.

Verizon VZ $31.87 -0.04 0.13% 15,738,006 NYSE: Inv. Bus. Daily pB3 "Rural Telecom Provider Pays 9.4% dividend" by Patrick Cains says Windstream will be No. 2 behind CenturyLink as a provider of telecom services to rural areas after Frontier finishes its acquisition by Verizon.

Wal-Mart WMT $55.01 +0.28 0.51% 13,080,880 NYSE: WSJ pB10 "In France, a Drive Up Grocery Takes Off" by Christina Passariello says modifying an old model, a French online food retailer, Chronodrive, drops the delivery but keeps the web orders. Story says WalMart lets customers buy anything except groceries online and pick up their orders in the store for no fee and is studying the drive through model for food.
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Here are the current CEOs of the Dow 30 Companies:

AT&T T Randall L. Stephenson
Alcoa AA Klaus Kleinfeld
American Express AXP Kenneth I. Chenault
Bank of America BAC Brian T. Moynihan.
Boeing BA W. James McNerney, Jr.
Caterpillar CAT Douglas Oberhelman
Chevron CVX John Watson
Cisco CSCO John Chambers
Coca Cola KO Muhtar Kent
Disney DIS Robert Iger
DuPont DD Ellen Kullman
ExxonMobil XOM Rex W. Tillerson
GE Jeffrey R. Immelt
Hewlett-Packard HPQ Mark Hurd
Home Depot HD Frank Blake
Intel INTC Paul S. Otellini
IBM Samuel J. Palmisano
JPMorgan Chase JPM Jamie Dimon
Johnson & Johnson JNJ William C. Weldon
Kraft KFT Irene Rosenfeld
McDonald's MCD Jim Skinner
Merck MRK Robert Clark
Microsoft MSFT Steve Ballmer
Pfizer PFE Jeffrey Kindler
Procter & Gamble PG Bob McDonald
3M MMM George W. Buckley
Travelers TRV Jay S. Fishman
United Technologies UTX Louis Chenevert
Verizon VZ Ivan Seidenberg
Wal-Mart WMT Mike Duke

Here are the Dow Jones Industrial Average 30 ranked in order of market capitalization rounded to the nearest billion as of 1/13/10 followed by number of shares outstanding rounded to the nearest 1/2 billion:

1. Exxon Mobil XOM $335 [5]
2. Microsoft MSFT 267 [9]
3. WalMart WMT 208 [4]
4. Chevron CVX 195 [2.5]
5. Johnson & Johnson JNJ 179 [3]
6. Procter & Gamble PG 179 [3]
7. GE 177 [10.5]
8. IBM 171 [1.5]
9 JPMorgan Chase 169 [4]
10. AT&T 158 [6]
11. Pfizer PFE 153 [8]
12. Cisco CSCO 140 [6]
13. BAC 140 [8.5]
14. Coke KO 133 [2]
15. Hewlett-Packard HPQ 123 [2]
16. Intel INTC 113 [5.5]
17. McDonald's MCD 104 [1.5]
18. Verizon VZ 90 [3]
19. Merck MRK 82 [2]
20. United Technologies UTX 68 [1]
21. 3M MMM 59 [.5]
22. Disney DIS 58 [1]
23. American Express AXP 50 [1]
24. Home Depot 48 [2]
25. Boeing BA 45 [1]
26. Kraft KFT 44 [1.5]
27. Caterpillar CAT 39 [.5]
28. DuPont DD 31 [1]
29. Travelers 27 [.5]
30. Alcoa AA 16 [1.5]

Here are the latest SEC filings as of 1/13/10 other than ownership filings, registration of shares for employee benefit plans, free writing prospectuses 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: 12/18/09 8K re: amendment Bylaws to provide that the Chairman of the Board shall call a special meeting of the stockholders whenever requested in writing to do so by stockholders representing 15% (rather than 25%) of the outstanding shares of AT&T.

12/14/09 8K re: agreement with the Communications Workers of America on new, three-year contracts covering approximately 30,000 employees in CWA District 3 (AT&T's Southeast region).

Alcoa AA: 1/12/10 8K re: Alcoa finished its 4Q '08 free cash flow positive, the first such quarterly achievement since 2Q '08. In 4Q '09, Alcoa generated free cash flow of $761 million, a $947 million improvement from 3Q '09 driven by strong cash from operations performance of $1.1 billion, a $940 million increase from the third quarter of 2009.

12/24/09 8K re: a joint venture with Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) for the development of an integrated bauxite mine, alumina refinery, aluminum smelter, and rolling mill in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

American Express AXP: 12/15/09 8K re: delinquency and write-off statistics for the lending portfolio of its U.S. Card Services operating segment for the months ended September 30, October 31 and November 30, 2009.

Bank of Am BAC: 12/17/09 8K re: election of Brian T. Moynihan to succeed Kenneth D. Lewis as the new President and Chief Executive Officer effective January 1, 2010 and his appointment to the Board and Executive Committee of the Board. Moynihan, 50, joined FleetBoston Financial Corporation in April 1993. He was promoted to lead Corporate Strategy and Development and then went on to lead Global Wealth and Investment Management at FleetBoston. Following the Corporation’s 2004 merger with FleetBoston, he served as president of Global Wealth and Investment Management from April 2004 to October 2007. From October 2007 to December 2008, Mr. Moynihan served as president of Global Corporate and Investment Banking. From December 2008 to January 2009, Mr. Moynihan served as the Corporation’s General Counsel. From January 2009 to August 2009, Mr. Moynihan served as president of Global Corporate and Investment Banking and Global Wealth Management. Since August 2009, he has served as president of Consumer and Small Business Banking.

12/9/09 8K re: amending its Certificate of Incorporation to fix the designations, preferences, limitations and relative rights of the Series S Preferred Stock.

12/3/09 Form 8K re: BAC's repaying the entire $45 billion investment borrowed under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

12/3/09 8K re: BAC being named as a defendant in two related lawsuits filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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: 12/18/09 8K re: supplemental information concerning deliveries to users for its Machinery and Engines lines of business.

12/15/09 8K re: amendments to Bylaws.

Chevron CVX: 1/11/10 8K re: earnings for 4Q '09 are expected to be lower than 3Q '09. Upstream earnings are projected to be in line with third quarter results as the benefit of higher commodity prices is offset by the absence of gains recognized in 3Q from approval of the Gorgon project in Australia. Downstream results are expected to be sharply lower, mainly due to significantly weaker refining margins.

12/11/09 8K re: a new base salary of $1,500,000 for J.S. Watson (a $500,000 increase) to be effective January 1, 2010 when Mr. Watson assumes the position of Chairman & CEO and other exec compensation changes.

Cisco CSCO: 11/2/09 8K re: Mark Chandler, Senior Vice President, Legal Services, General Counsel & Secretary of Cisco Systems adopting a pre-arranged stock trading plan.

Coke KO: 10/29/09 10QA

Disney DIS: 1/12/10 8K re: new form of agreement for the award of stock units and stock options awarded to executive officers.

1/4/10 8K re: new employment agreement with James A. Rasulo and amendment of employment agreement with Thomas O. Staggs. Rasulo will serve as Sr. EVP & CFO with an annual salary of $1,400,000.

12/2/09 10K

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: 12/14/09 8K re: Merger Agreement to buy XTO Energy.

12/1/09 8K re: fixing a total ceiling of $139 million in respect of 2009 under XOM's Short Term Incentive Program, of which bonuses were granted to certain officers as follows

GE: 12/3/09 8K re: GE, NBC Universal, Inc. and Comcast Corporation entering into a Master Agreement pursuant to which they will form a joint venture. The joint venture will consist of the businesses of NBCU, including its cable networks, filmed entertainment, televised entertainment, theme parks and unconsolidated investments, collectively valued at $30 billion, and Comcast’s cable networks including E!, Versus and the Golf Channel, ten regional sports networks and certain digital media properties, collectively valued at $7.25 billion. NBCU will borrow $9.1 billion from third party lenders, and the proceeds of this debt financing will be distributed to GE. Comcast will make a payment of approximately $6.5 billion in cash to GE. GE also entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement with Vivendi SA pursuant to which,GE will acquire Vivendi’s 20% interest in NBCU for $5.8 billion. GE expects to realize approximately $9.8 billion pre-tax in cash after the buyout of Vivendi’s 20% interest. The new venture initially will be 51% owned by Comcast and 49% owned by GE.

Hewlett-Packard HPQ: 1/12/10 Prelim. Proxy Statement re: annual stockholders meeting on 3/1710 at 2 pm at Computer History Museum, 1401 N. Shoreline Boulevard, Mountain View, California.

12/17/09 10K

Home Depot HD: 12/3/09 10Q

Intel INTC: 8K 1/12/10 8K re: release of 4Q earnings report on Thursday, 1/14 A public webcast of Intel’s earnings conference call will follow at 2:30 p.m. PST at www.intc.com.

12/17/09 8K re: a press release commenting on the suit filed against Intel by the Federal Trade Commission alleging anticompetitive practices.

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

JPMorganChase JPM: 12/22/09 8K re: the closing of a public offering of $1,500,000,000 aggregate liquidation amount of an affiliated trust.

12/16/09 8K re: the U.S. Treasury selling in a secondary public offering, 88,401,697 warrants, each representing the right to purchase one share of the common stock, of JPM at an exercise price of $10.75 per warrant.

Kraft KFT: 1/12/10 8K re: increase of guidance for '09 diluted earnings per share to at least $2.00 versus the previous expectation of at least $1.97.1 reflecting strong operating gains & a significant increase in marketing investments versus the prior year.

12/22/09 8K re: amendment of By-Laws to expand the Board to twelve members and appointment of Mackey J. McDonald & Jean-Francois M. L. van Boxmeer as directors, effective January 1, 2010. Mr. McDonald will serve on the Audit Committee, and Mr. van Boxmeer will serve on the Public Affairs Committee.

12/15/09 8K re: a press release relating to the formal response issued by Cadbury plc regarding the offer by Kraft Foods to acquire all of the shares of Cadbury plc.

McDonalds MCD: 12/23/09 8K re: am agreement re: the retirement of Ralph Alvarez, President and Chief Operating Officer.

12/9/09 8K re: an Investor Release reporting MCD's November and year-to-date 2009 sales.

12/4/09 8K re: resignation of Ralph Alvarez as President & COO effective December 31, 2009 & Director and MCD reduced its size by one for a total of 13 Directors.

Merck MRK: 11/184/09 8KA amending financial stmts re: the earlier announcement of the consummation on November 3, 2009 of the merger of Merck & Co., Inc. &, Schering-Plough Corporation.

Microsoft MSFT: 12/4/09 8K re: the resignation of Christopher P. Liddell, the former chief financial officer and his settlement agreement.

Pfizer PFE: 12/6/09 8K re: amendment of bylaws & change in fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble PG: 1/12/10 8K re: quarterly dividend of $0.44 per share on the Common Stock & on the Series A & Series B ESOP Conv. Class A Pref. Stock, payable 2/16/10 with record date of 1/22/10, which is its consistent dividend since incorporation in 1890. 4 bil times a day, P&G brands are sold globally, products include Pampers, Tide, Ariel, Always, Whisper, Pantene, Mach3, Bounty, Dawn, Gain, Pringles, Charmin, Downy, Lenor, Iams, Crest, Oral-B, Duracell, Olay, Head & Shoulders, Wella, Gillette, Braun Fusion. P&G has 135,000 employees in 80 countries.

1/8/10 8K re:changes to its segment reporting structure & agreement to sell its global pharmaceuticals business to Warner Chilcott plc.

12/11/09 8K re: the purchase of Sara Lee's Ambi Pur brand by PG.

12/8/09 8K re: Angela F. Braly being appointed to the Board of Directors, effective December 8, 2009.

12/8/09 8K re: the retirement of Alan G. Lafley, Chairman of the Board and former President & CEO, will retire from his position as Chairman of the Board effective January 1, 2010 & Robert A. McDonald (56), currently President & CEO being elected to Chairman of the Board effective January 1, 2010.

3M MMM: 12/8/09 8K re: 2010 sales and earnings outlook.

Travelers TRV: 12/11/09 8K re: the election of Donald J. Shepard as a director. He is the former chairman of the executive board and chief executive officer of AEGON N.V.

United Technologies UTX: 12/18/10 8K re: incorp by reference of prior filings.

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: 1/8/10 8K re: estimates that '09 adjusted EPS will be approximately 13 to 15 cents lower than '08 adjusted EPS of $2.54 and that revenues in '09 will be higher than '08. Verizon Wireless will begin providing 4G Long-Term Evolution service in 25 to 30 markets covering 100 million points of presence)by the end of '10 &within 24 months following its start of LTE service, Verizon Wireless expects to provide LTE service to 80 to 90% of the US.

12/23/09 8K re: grant of stock options to executives.

12/7/09 8K re:amendments to bylaws.

WalMartWMT: 12/8/09 10Q