8/21/09 am WMT and Home Depot Hurt Sears Sales

Post #66 The following is brought to you by Intellivest Securities Research, Inc. The following is not intended as advertising by a broker-dealer and is not a research report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Thursday at 9350.05 up 70.89 or 0.76% from Wednesday's close of 9279.26. Of the 30 Dow Companies: 7 gained and 23 declined with the biggest loser being Kraft KFT $28.35 -0.28 0.98% 7,895,624 NYSE and the biggest gainer being United Technologies UTX $57.26 +1.26 2.25% 5,066,627 NYSE.

A read of Friday's 8/21/09 print editions of: Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Investors Business Daily, New York Times, Atl Journal Const, and USA Today yielded the following stories about Dow Jones Industrial Average 30 component companies and the Dow with stories about the Dow aggregated first (some of the information about yesterday's closing Dow appeared in my blog yesterday afternoon) and then items about Dow Jones Industrial Average 30 companies presented alphabetically, followed by symbol and Friday's closing price and related data:

Dow: WSJ pc1 "Fiancials Power Dow Ahead 0.8%" says stocks rose for a third day in a row, aided by strength in the financial sector and better than expected manufacturing data.

WSJ pC5 "Large stock Focus - Talked Up by CEO, AIG Climbs by 21%" says financial firms paced the stock markethigher Thurs. thanks to an analyst driven gain for insureres while comments from AIG's CEO also aided the sector. It notes that BA Boeing rose$1.22 as a report on manufacturing in the Philadelphia region and the Conferenc Board's index of leading indicators boosted sentiment surrounding industrials.

NYT pB7 "Stocks Higher in US After an Oversea Rebound" says Wall street rose on Thurs even as signs of continuing weakness in the job market sapped some of the momentum from big gains in overseas trading. It says shares of fast food chains like McDonald's also rose.

Fin Times p24 "Investors take heart as Shanghai bounces back" says a powerful rebound for Chinese stocks offered an encouraging backdrop for global equity markets yesterday, altho the broader risk environment was more mixed.

USA Today p4b "Markets head higher in scant trading" says more signs that the economy is creeping toward recovery encouraged investors to move further into stocks but at a cautious pace.

Inv bus. Daily pA1 "Stocks Rise for Third Day in Row as Trade Picks Up' says stocks chugged to a third consecutive day of gains Thurs with a strong finish, adding a dose of optimism.


The current divisor for the Dow found at today's page C4 of The Wall St. Jrnl is .132319125 unchanged.

Thursday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing numerator was 1237.19 up 9.38 from Wednesday's closing Dow numerator of 1227.81. This is the sum of all 30 closing prices. A short cut to the Dow numerator is to multiply the closing Dow by the Divisor.

The average closing price (the closing numerator divided by 30) of Thursday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was 41.24 up 0.31 from Wednesday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing price of 40.93. The median closing price of Thursday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was 37.47 up 0.82from Wednesday's Dow Jones median closing price of 36.65.

The highest closing price Thursday again was IBM $118.95 +0.38 0.32% 4,837,089 NYSE and the lowest closing price Wednesday again was Alcoa AA $12.43 +0.05 0.4% 42,314,529 NYSE.

The lowest volume Thursday was MMM $71.23 +0.44 0.62% 2,539,154 NYSE and the highest volume again was BAC BofAm $17.14 +0.39 2.33% 181,691,353 NYSE.

If Thursday morning before the market opened you had purchased $100 of each of the Dow Jones Industrial Average 30 shares (assuming you could buy fractional shares and assuming no transaction costs) and sold at the close you would have made $939
($123,720 - $122,781)

AT&T T $25.54 +0.16 0.63% 13,670,357 NYSE: NYT pB7 and WSJ pB4 "AT&T Faces Age-Bias Suits" & AJC pA20, "Age discriminatin suit filed against AT&T" says the EEOC filed an age discrimination lawsuit against T saying it discriminated against older employees by denying them the change to be rehired solely becuae they retired under early retirement plans. Suit was filed in US District Ct. in NY.

WSJ pB4 "FCC Plans Broad Review of Wireless Industry" says the FCC formally announced plans to launch a wide ranging review of wireless indsutry practices, looking at issues from the state of competition in the wireless market to the fees tacked on to subscribers' bills. Part of this ivnestigatio will include looking into whetehr exclusive handset arrangements like T's deal with Apple to offer the iPHone are hurting competition and limiting consmer choice. In a related mater, Apple and T are expected to file responses Fri to the FCC for its inquiry into why Apple recently rejected Google's Internet phone application, Google Voice, from its App Store.

Amex AXP $32.52 -0.82 2.59% 9,043,426 NYSE: WSJ pB4 "Switzerland Sells Stake in UBS for $1.1 Billion More than It Paid Last Oct." says Witzerland became the first European economy to dispose of its holdings of a distress bank after selling its 9% stake in UBS at a $1 bil profit. It says in the US seveal firms, including AXP, and JPM Morgan have already bought back warrants from the Treasury which the gov received as part of its $700 bill bailout.

AA $12.43 +0.05 0.4% 42,314,529 NYSE: No mentions found.

BofAmercia BAC $17.14 +0.39 2.33% 181,691,353 NYSE: WSJ pC1 "Morgan Stanley Boslters Staff In Bid to Share Rivals' Riches" says Morgan Stanley will add as many as 400 trading and sales positions as it tries to revive profits in areas such as fixed income trading, emerging markets and foreign exchange. Morgan has lagged behind rivals since taking on a more conservative stance to survivie the financial crisis. It has had 3 consecutive quarters of red ine while goldman and JPM has reaped profits. After last year's Wall Street shakeout, Morga picked up key hires from JPMorgan, BAC Bank of Am among others.

Boeing BA $44.74 +1.22 2.8% 5,186,844 NYSE: WSJ pC5 "Large stock Focus - Talked Up by CEO, AIG Climbs by 21%" says financial firms paced the stock markethigher Thurs. thanks to an analyst driven gain for insureres while comments from AIG's CEO also aided the sector. It notes that BA Boeing rose$1.22 as a report on manufacturing in the Philadelphia region and the Conferenc Board's index of leading indicators boosted sentiment surrounding industrials.

CAT $45.5 +0.33 0.73% 6,883,732 NYSE: No mentions found.

CVX $68.62 +0.46 0.67% 7,937,720 NYSE: No mentions found.

CSCO $21.89 +0.65 3.06% 55,188,759 NASDAQ-GS: No mentions found.

KO $49.42 +0.06 0.12% 5,923,303 NYSE: WSJ pB3 "Coke to Invest $5 bil in mexico with Bkottlers" says KO and its local bottling partners will invest $5 bil in Mexico during the next five years per CEO Muhtar Kent as part of a long term plan to develop KO's operations in Mexico. This is in additon to $5 bil already invested there since '04. The $200 million factory to be built by KO and its Mexican partner, Femas, will produce the Jugos del Valle brand of juices.

DD $31.94 +0.05 0.16% 4,762,426 NYSE: No mentions found.

DIS $25.89 +0.41 1.61% 9,973,366 NYSE: No mentions found.

XOM $68.59 +0.59 0.87% 17,243,297 NYSE: No mentions found.

GE $13.81 +0.28 2.07% 63,798,409 NYSE: No mentions found.

HPQ $43.98 +0.15 0.34% 12,539,888 NYSE: No mentions found.

Home Depot HD $26.68 -0.07 0.26% 14,150,893 NYSE: "Sears Post Loss as Sales Sag further - Cost Cuts at Kmart Parent Fail to Stop Hemorrhaging as More Shoppers Go Elsewhere" says teh futurre of Sears is in doubt as it releaed its earnings as a quarterly loss on a 10% drop in revenue from a year earlier. The $94 million loss spooked investors who had been expecting Sears Holdings to post a profit. Retail indsustry experts say Sears is struggling to compete against stringer claims that often lower prices and bigger assortments such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot.

WSJ pC5 "Options Report - How to Play Home Depot" says HD's sahres could gain strength in comming months, fueled in party b its earnings, and investors could consider buying options to take advantage of upside moves according to the writer, Tennille Tracy.

INTC $18.71 -0.09 0.48% 44,797,304 NASDAQ-GS: No mentions found.

IBM $118.95 +0.38 0.32% 4,837,089 NYSE: No mentions found.

JPMorgan Chase JPM $42.42 +1.01 2.44% 28,952,202 NYSE: WSJ pC1 "Morgan Stanley Boslters Staff In Bid to Share Rivals' Riches" says Morgan Stanley will add as many as 400 trading and sales positions as it tries to revive profits in areas such as fixed income trading, emerging markets and foreign exchange. Morgan has lagged behind rivals since taking on a more conservative stance to survivie the financial crisis. It has had 3 consecutive quarters of red ine while goldman and JPM has reaped profits. After last year's Wall Street shakeout, Morgan picked up key hires from JPMorgan, BAC Bank of Am among others.

WSJ pC10 "It's an Auction Conundrum at J.P. Morgan" saying there is no word yet on when the Treasury will auction warrants it holds in JPM but it is likely JPM will bid for its own warrants, more than 88 million shares are involved. The options could be wiorth a range of $1.2 bil to $2.7 bil.

WSJ pB4 "Switzerland Sells Stake in UBS for $1.1 Billion More than It Paid Last Oct." says Witzerland became the first European economy to dispose of its holdings of a distress bank after selling its 9% stake in UBS at a $1 bil profit. It says in the US seveal firms, including AXP, and JPM Morgan have already bought back warrants from the Treasury which the gov received as part of its $700 bill bailout.


JNJ $60.95 +0.58 0.96% 9,921,868 NYSE: No mentions found.

KFT $28.35 -0.28 0.98% 7,895,624 NYSE: No mentions found.

McDonald's MCD $56.14 +0.49 0.88% 5,512,561 NYSE: NYT pB7 "Stocks Higher in US After an Oversea Rebound" says Wall street rose on Thurs even as signs of continuing weakness in the job market sapped some of the momentum from big gains in overseas trading. It says shares of fast food chains like McDonald's also rose.

Merck MRK $31.34 -0.14 0.44% 15,420,962 NYSE: WSJ pB3 "Gardasil Benefits Outweight Risks, health Agencies Say" says FDA and Center for Disease Control says the benefits of MRK's cerviccal cancer vaccine Gardasil outweight its risks. The vaccine is apporoved for females age 9 to 26.

MSFT $23.67 +0.02 0.08% 39,500,278 NASDAQ-GS: WSJ pB1 "Tech's Bigs Put Google's Books Deal in Crosshairs" says three tech heavyweights and some library associations are joining a coaltion led by a prominent Silicon Valley lawyer to challenge Google's settlement with authors and publishers, Gary Reback who is involved in the DOJ's antitrust investigation against Miscrosft. MSFT, Amazon and Yahoo have agreed to join the gorup altho Amazon, unlike, MSFT and Yahoo, refused to confirm its participation. Similar story at NYT pB2.

PFE $16.23 -0.14 0.86% 42,917,563 NYSE: No mentions found.

PG $53.02 +0.22 0.42% 8,466,219 NYSE: No mentions found.

MMM $71.23 +0.44 0.62% 2,539,154 NYSE: No mentions found.

TRV $47.81 -0.15 0.31% 3,687,199 NYSE: No mentions found.

UTX $57.26 +1.26 2.25% 5,066,627 NYSE: No mentions found.

VZ $30.71 +0.28 0.92% 9,387,414 NYSE: No mentions found.

WMT $51.71 +0.04 0.08% 9,294,797 NYSE: Home Depot HD $26.68 -0.07 0.26% 14,150,893 NYSE: "Sears Post Loss as Sales Sag further - Cost Cuts at Kmart Parent Fail to Stop Hemorrhaging as More Shoppers Go Elsewhere" says teh futurre of Sears is in doubt as it releaed its earnings as a quarterly loss on a 10% drop in revenue from a year earlier. The $94 million loss spooked investors who had been expecting Sears Holdings to post a profit. Retail indsustry experts say Sears is struggling to compete against stringer claims that often lower prices and bigger assortments such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot. Related story at WSJ pC10 "Lampert's Strategy Is Hobbling Sears."