Saturday, August 21, 2010

8/21/10 Sat GE's Sale of NBC Universal Deal Comment Period is Over

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Post No. 599. The following is brought to you by Intellivest Securities Research, Inc. Toward 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 8/17/10 and an update of the Dow 30 component's SEC filings as of 8/17/10.

A read of Saturday's issues of Wall St. Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, 8/23/10 issue of Barron's, 8/20 -26/10 issue of Atlanta Business Chronicle & Atlanta Journal Constitution yielded the following stories about Dow Jones Industrial Average 30 component companies and the Dow with stories about the Dow aggregated first and then items about Dow Jones Industrial Average 30 companies presented alphabetically, followed by symbol and Friday's stock prices and related data.

Dow: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Friday at 10,213.62 down 57.59 or 0.56% from Thursday's close of 10,271.21. For the week the Dow is down 89.53 or 0.87% from last Friday's close of 10,303.15 (which was down 16.8. or 0.16% from the prior week.) For the year the Dow is down 2.06%. Of the 30 Dow Companies: 10 gained and 20 declined. The biggest gainer dollar-wise was Travelers TRV $50.12 +0.28 0.56% 3,886,337 NYSE and percentage-wise was J.P.Morgan Chase JPM $37.21 +0.14 0.38% 26,160,831 NYSE. The biggest decliner dollar-wise was IBM $127.57 -1.33 1.03% 5,504,946 NYSE and percentage-wise was Hewlett-Packard HPQ $39.85 -0.91 2.23% 35,682,838 NYSE.

WSJ pB1 "Dow closes week in the red, now down 2.1% for the year" by Jonathan Cheng says stocks declined Fri, sending the Dow to its 2nd straight week of losses as concerns about economic growth weighed on investor sentiment. A resurgence in deal activity to the highest levels since late '09 wasn't enough to overcome persistent reminders of the struggling global economic recovery, as poor jobs and manufacturing data weighed on investors' minds. Leading the Dow's decline Fri, Hewlett-Packard dropped 2.2% despite improved profits,a s investors focused on the firm's management turmoil since Mark Hurd resigned as CEO two weeks ago. Tech stocks were the strongest performing S&P sector this week, as acquisitions by Dell and Intel helped spur investor interest. energy stocks were the week's worst performers as oil prices fell 2.6% to a 6 week low and concerns over bloated inventories and uncertain growth prospects. Oil fell 1.3% Fri, to $74 a barrel. Chevron and Exxon Mobil have been the biggest drags on the Dow, falling 3% & 1.7%, this week.

WSJ pB2 "Exxon Mobil & chevron fall" by Krisina Peterson says energy stocks including Exxon Mobil, Chevron and drilling firms fell Fri as a bleak economic outlook and a surging dollar sent investors fleeing from riskier asset. Exxon shed 40 cents and Chevron lost 79 cents.

Fin Times p14 "energy & industrials hit hardest as indices slide" by Hannah Kuchler says US stocks fell Fri after fears about the pace of the US economic recovery continued to weigh on investor sentiment. As the earnings season draws to a close, Dell and Hewlett-Packard reported their results after the closing bell on Thurs. Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest tech firm by rev, released preannounced results and said it strategy remained intact following the departure of ceo Hurd.

Sat. NYT pB5 "A week of worrisome economic data weights on markets" by Reuters says stocks ended mixed on Fri and for the week, meandering mostly lower on a batch of dispiriting economic reports earlier this week and a lack of fresh incentive.

As of the close of the market Friday, the current divisor for the Dow Jones Industrial Average found at page B4 of today's Wall St. Journal is 0.132129493, the trailing P/E ratio is 13.78 down from Friday's 13.83 (year ago it was 15.34) the P/E estimate is 12.36 down unchanged from Friday's 12.49 (year ago it was 14.71) and the current dividend yield is 2.74 up from Friday's 2.73 (it was 3.02 a year ago). The Dow's all-time high was 14,164.53 on Oct. 9, 2007. The 12 year low close for the Dow was on March 9, 2009 when it fell to 6,547.05.

Friday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing numerator was 1,349.52 down 7.61 from Thursday's closing numerator of 1,357.13. 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 decrease of 7.61 for Friday by the divisor (0.132129493) you get the decrease in Friday's Dow of 57.59. A $1 change in the price of any DJIA stock = a 7.56 change in the average.

The average closing price (the closing numerator divided by 30) of Friday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was $44.98 down 0.26 from Thursday's Dow Jones Industrial Average average closing price of $45.24. The median closing price of Friday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was $38.98 down $0.04 from Thursday's median price of $39.02. The lowest volume was 3M MMM $81.69 1.12 -1.37% 3,798,115 NYSE and the highest volume again was Bank of America BAC $12.87 -0.15 1.15% 144,894,703 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 lost $761 ($135,713 - $134,952).

MarketWatch 8/20/10 Fri. 4:19 pm by Nick Godt Gibson says U.S. stocks finished mostly lower on Friday, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its second straight week of losses, as worries about the slowdown of the economy took hold. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA 10,214, -57.59, -0.56%) fell 57.59 points, or 0.6%, to end at 10,213.62, with 22 of its 30 components falling. Shares of Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ 39.83, -0.02, -0.05%) weighed the most on the blue-chip average, losing 2.2% after the computer giant's earnings. For the week, the Dow fell 0.9%. On Friday, the S&P 500 index (SPX 1,072, -3.94, -0.37%) fell 3.94 points, or 0.4%, to 1,071.69, weighed by the energy sector. The Nasdaq Composite (COMP 2,180, +0.81, +0.04%), however, still rose fractionally on Friday, to end at 2,179.76, up 0.3% for the week.

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


AT&T T $26.45 -0.52 1.93% 29,693,732 NYSE: No mentions found.

Alcoa AA $10.55 -0.11 1.03% 14,965,815 NYSE: No mentions found.

American Express AXP $40.74 -0.22 0.54% 6,661,652 NYSE: WSJ pB3 "Card firms gird for cut to late fees" by Aparajita Saha-Bubna says staring Sun, credit card issuers could lose more than $3 bil in rev annually, as new fed laws on late payment fes kick in. The rule cuts late fees on average to $25 & could fuel higher minimum payments. Bank of America said it would take a $1 bil hit in '10 because of the new regulations. American Express is raising its annual fees on some of its co-branded cards to $65 from $45. JPMorgan in '09 raised its max balance transfer fee to 5% from 2%.

Bank of America BAC $12.87 -0.15 1.15% 144,894,703 NYSE: Barron's p7 "Week Review,", WSJ pB3 "Lewis fires of response to civil fraud suit" by Dan Fitzpatrick, Sat. NYT pB6 "Bank of America's Ex-Chief deies fraud in Merrill deal" by Louise Story say former Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis filed an aggressive response to a civil fraud lawsuit from NY Atty Gen'l Andrew Cuomo calling the atty genl's case implausible and an ill founded attempt to lay blame where it does not belong.

WSJ pB3 "Card firms gird for cut to late fees" by Aparajita Saha-Bubna says staring Sun, credit card issuers could lose more than $3 bil in rev annually, as new fed laws on late payment fes kick in. The rule cuts late fees on average to $25 & could fuel higher minimum payments. Bank of America said it would take a $1 bil hit in '10 because of the new regulations. American Express is raising its annual fees on some of its co-branded cards to $65 from $45. JPMorgan in '09 raised its max balance transfer fee to 5% from 2%.

Boeing BA $64.725 +0.105 0.16% 3,269,182 NYSE: No mentions found.

Caterpillar CAT $68.87 -0.42 0.61% 7,189,531 NYSE: Atl Bus. Chron. "Caterpillar expands manufacturing in South" by Amanda Jones Hoyle says Caterpillar announced a big expansion of its manufacturing in the south by selecting Victoria, Texas for a new state of the art, 600,000 square oot hydraulic excavator manufacturing facility In Ga, it has facilities in Alpharetta, Atlanta, Fairburn, Griffin, Jeferson, LaGrance,Patterson, Thomasville and Toccoa.

Chevron CVX $75.15 -0.69 0.91% 7,854,295 NYSE: WSJ pB1 "Dow closes week in the red, now down 2.1% for the year" by Jonathan Cheng says stocks declined Fri, sending the Dow to its 2nd straight week of losses as concerns about economic growth weighed on investor sentiment. A resurgence in deal activity to the highest levels since late '09 wasn't enough to overcome persistent reminders of the struggling global economic recovery, as poor jobs and manufacturing data weighed on investors' minds. Leading the Dow's decline Fri, Hewlett-packard dropped 2.2% despite improved profits,a s investors focused on the firm's management turmoil since Mark Hurd resigned as CEO two weeks ago. Tech stocks were the strongest performing S&P sector this week, as acquisitions by Dell and Intel helped spur investor interest. energy stocks were the week's worst performers as oil prices fell 2.6% to a 6 week low and concerns over bloated inventories and uncertain growth prospects. Oil fell 1.3% Fri, to $74 a barrel. Chevron and Exxon Mobil have been the biggest drags on the Dow, falling 3% & 1.7%, this week.

WSJ pB2 "Exxon Mobil & chevron fall" by Krisina Peterson says energy stocks including Exxon Mobil, Chevron and drilling firms fell Fri as a bleak economic outlook and a surging dollar sent investors fleeing from riskier asset. Exxon shed 40 cents and Chevron lost 79 cents

Cisco CSCO $22.3 +0.08 0.36% 50,789,775 NASDAQ-GS: No mentions found.

Coca-Cola KO $55.42 +0.14 0.25% 8,322,478 NYSE: Barron's "Big mergers and kiddie stocks" by Michael Santoli says in a long lasting sideways market, traditional growth stocks with multi-generational band equity often attract an outsize proportion of investor dollars. McDonald's and Coca-Cola are given as examples. McDonald's looks attractive based on its valuation, growth prospects and dividends.

Barron's p7 "Vacuous bond-bubble talk" by Randall W. Forsyth says the incongruity of the Dow Jones 30 Industrials paying a higher dividend yield than the 10 year Treasury speaks volumes about investors' risk aversion. Claymore Dividend & Income Fund, a closed end fun is trading at a discount of more than 15% from its net asset value and 7 of the top holdings of Claymore are Dow stocks: Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, Intel, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble and Merck.

Walt Disney DIS $33.14 -0.05 0.15% 7,494,340 NYSE: No mentions found.

DuPont DD $40.34 -0.25 0.62% 3,884,367 NYSE: No mentions found.

ExxonMobil XOM $58.9125 -0.3775 0.64% 17,580,452 NYSE: WSJ pB1 "Dow closes week in the red, now down 2.1% for the year" by Jonathan Cheng says stocks declined Fri, sending the Dow to its 2nd straight week of losses as concerns about economic growth weighed on investor sentiment. A resurgence in deal activity to the highest levels since late '09 wasn't enough to overcome persistent reminders of the struggling global economic recovery, as poor jobs and manufacturing data weighed on investors' minds. Leading the Dow's decline Fri, Hewlett-packard dropped 2.2% despite improved profits,a s investors focused on the firm's management turmoil since Mark Hurd resigned as CEO two weeks ago. Tech stocks were the strongest performing S&P sector this week, as acquisitions by Dell and Intel helped spur investor interest. energy stocks were the week's worst performers as oil prices fell 2.6% to a 6 week low and concerns over bloated inventories and uncertain growth prospects. Oil fell 1.3% Fri, to $74 a barrel. Chevron and Exxon Mobil have been the biggest drags on the Dow, falling 3% & 1.7%, this week.

Barron's pM2 charts ExxonMobil saing that worries that a 2nd economic dip awaits helped undermine expectations for energy demand across the board and Exxon couldn't escape those concerns as its stock dropped $1.02 for the week.

WSJ pB2 "Exxon Mobil & chevron fall" by Krisina Peterson says energy stocks including Exxon Mobil, Chevron and drilling firms fell Fri as a bleak economic outlook and a surging dollar sent investors fleeing from riskier asset. Exxon shed 40 cents and Chevron lost 79 cents

GE $15.025 -0.225 1.48% 56,655,801 NYSE: WSJ pB5 "Comcast competitors seek conditions on NBC purchase" by Amy Schatz says competitors and opponents of Comcast Crop's deal to acquire control of NBC Universal bombarded fed regulators with proposed conditions as time expired for parties to weigh in on the deal. Several of Comcast's competitors suggested conditions that the FCC should impose on the purchase from GE. The acquisition wold give the cable giant 51% control of NBC Universal's tv and movie business for about $13.75 bil in cash and assets. Consumer advocates continue to press the FCC to reject the deal, but most of Comcast's rivals proposed conditions that would give them better bargaining power in carriage or fee negotiations or guaranteed access to Comcast -NBC networks and programming. Thursday was the last change for comment. It isn't clear if the FCC will clear the deal by year end. The Justice Dept is also reviewing the deal.

Hewlett-Packard HPQ $39.85 -0.91 2.23% 35,682,838 NYSE: Fin Times p9 "HP faces crucial decision in how to follow Hurd" by Joseph Menn says in announcing its first quarterly results in 5 years without Hurd at the helm, Hewlett-Packard excs went out of their way on Thurs to reassure investors that the world's largest tech firm was on the right track.

Barron's pM2 charts Hewlett Packard as down 60 cents for the week saying following the departure of CEO hurd, profits rose 6.1% and global sales gained but investors withheld their approval of the results.

Fin Times p14 "energy & industrials hit hardest as indices slide" by Hannah Kuchler says US stocks fell Fri after fears about the pace of the US economic recovery continued to weigh on investor sentiment. As the earnings season draws to a close, Dell and Hewlett-Packard reported their results after the closing bell on Thurs. Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest tech firm by rev, released preannounced results and said it strategy remained intact following the departure of ceo Hurd.

WSJ pB1 "Dow closes week in the red, now down 2.1% for the year" by Jonathan Cheng says stocks declined Fri, sending the Dow to its 2nd straight week of losses as concerns about economic growth weighed on investor sentiment. A resurgence in deal activity to the highest levels since late '09 wasn't enough to overcome persistent reminders of the struggling global economic recovery, as poor jobs and manufacturing data weighed on investors' minds. Leading the Dow's decline Fri, Hewlett-Packard dropped 2.2% despite improved profits,a s investors focused on the firm's management turmoil since Mark Hurd resigned as CEO two weeks ago. Tech stocks were the strongest performing S&P sector this week, as acquisitions by Dell and Intel helped spur investor interest. energy stocks were the week's worst performers as oil prices fell 2.6% to a 6 week low and concerns over bloated inventories and uncertain growth prospects. Oil fell 1.3% Fri, to $74 a barrel. Chevron and Exxon Mobil have been the biggest drags on the Dow, falling 3% & 1.7%, this week.

Home Depot HD $28.235 +0.015 0.05% 10,886,692 NYSE: Barron's pM3 "Bonds v stocks: who's right about recession? by Kopin Tan says Intel's $7.4 bil offer to buy McAfee helped stocks recoup losses Fri afternoon. Home Depot flaunted a 6.8% jump in 2Q profits even though same store sales increased on 1.7% due to disciplined inventories and keeping a tight lid on employee work hours. At WalMart same store sales are down for 5 straight quarters. China accounts for 20% to 40% of the cost of goods sold among broadline retailers including roughly 5% at Home Depot. China accounts for less than 5% fo Colgate Palmolive's or Procter & Gamble's cost of goods sold. China's rising minimum wage cold help global restaurant chains like McDonald's since that gives customers there more purchasing power.

Atlanta Business Chronicle p10A "Home Depot profit up 9%" says its profit increased 9% in 2Q with net income of $1.2 bil and earnings of 72 cents a sahre, compared with net income of $1.1 bil and earnings of 66 cents a share in 2Q '09.

Intel INTC $18.94 +0.04 0.21% 89,906,840 NASDAQ-GS: Barron's p25 "Intel's brilliant or bonehead deal" by Eric J. Savitz says Intel CEO Paul Otellini last week either pulled off the most ingenious ech sector acquisiton anyone has atempted in years, or he's a total bonehead who's just wasted a lot of money in buying McAfee. Intel has a horrible record when it comes to acquisitions: its disastrous $2.2 bil buyout of Level One in '99 is an example.

Barron's pM3 "Bonds v stocks: who's right about recession? by Kopin Tan says Intel's $7.4 bil offer to buy McAfee helped stocks recoup losses Fri afternoon. Home Depot flaunted a 6.8% jump in 2Q profits even though same store sales increased on 1.7% due to disciplined inventories and keeping a tight lid on employee work hours. At WalMart same store sales are down for 5 straight quarters. China accounts for 20% to 40% of the cost of goods sold among broadline retailers including roughly 5% at Home Depot. China accounts for less than 5% fo Colgate Palmolive's or Procter & Gamble's cost of goods sold. China's rising minimum wage cold help global restaurant chains like McDonald's since that gives customers there more purchasing power.

WSJ pB1 "Dow closes week in the red, now down 2.1% for the year" by Jonathan Cheng says stocks declined Fri, sending the Dow to its 2nd straight week of losses as concerns about economic growth weighed on investor sentiment. A resurgence in deal activity to the highest levels since late '09 wasn't enough to overcome persistent reminders of the struggling global economic recovery, as poor jobs and manufacturing data weighed on investors' minds. Leading the Dow's decline Fri, Hewlett-packard dropped 2.2% despite improved profits,a s investors focused on the firm's management turmoil since Mark Hurd resigned as CEO two weeks ago. Tech stocks were the strongest performing S&P sector this week, as acquisitions by Dell and Intel helped spur investor interest. energy stocks were the week's worst performers as oil prices fell 2.6% to a 6 week low and concerns over bloated inventories and uncertain growth prospects. Oil fell 1.3% Fri, to $74 a barrel. Chevron and Exxon Mobil have been the biggest drags on the Dow, falling 3% & 1.7%, this week.

Barron's pM2 charts McAfee saying Intel's bid for $48 a share, a 60% premium from prior day's close it drove the price up of McAfee $17.09 for the week as no big roadblocks are expected.

Barron's p12 "Week Review and Week Preview" says Intel agreed to buy McAfee for $7.68 bil or $48 a share.

Barron's p7 "Vacuous bond-bubble talk" by Randall W. Forsyth says the incongruity of the Dow Jones 30 Industrials paying a higher dividend yield than the 10 year Treasury speaks volumes about investors' risk aversion. Claymore Dividend & Income Fund, a closed end fun is trading at a discount of more than 15% from its net asset value and 7 of the top holdings of Claymore are Dow stocks: Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, Intel, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble and Merck.

IBM $127.57 -1.33 1.03% 5,504,946 NYSE: No mentions found.

J.P.Morgan Chase JPM $37.21 +0.14 0.38% 26,160,831 NYSE: WSJ pB1 "fighting flares on new rules for street" by Damian Paletta says banks, firms and trade associations challenged fed regulators Fri over the issue of how to regulate derivatives under the new Dodd-Frank bill during a roundtable hosted by the Commodity Futures Trading Comm 7 the SEC. JPMorgan Chases managing direcgtor Jeremy Barnum got into the arguments.

WSJ pB3 "JPMorgan shifts money managers" says it will have John Garibaldi succeeding John Hunt as head of institutional advisory and sales among other changes.

WSJ pB3 "Card firms gird for cut to late fees" by Aparajita Saha-Bubna says staring Sun, credit card issuers could lose more than $3 bil in rev annually, as new fed laws on late payment fes kick in. The rule cuts late fees on average to $25 & could fuel higher minimum payments. Bank of America said it would take a $1 bil hit in '10 because of the new regulations. American Express is raising its annual fees on some of its co-branded cards to $65 from $45. JPMorgan in '09 raised its max balance transfer fee to 5% from 2%.

WSJ pB5 "Creditors scuttle Tribune's plan" by Peg Brickley says Tribune Co. will recraft its Chapter 11 plan in an effort to make peace among creditors after key supporters including JPMorgan walked away.

Johnson & Johnson JNJ $58.7 -0.02 0.03% 9,732,728 NYSE: Barron's p7 "Vacuous bond-bubble talk" by Randall W. Forsyth says the incongruity of the Dow Jones 30 Industrials paying a higher dividend yield than the 10 year Treasury speaks volumes about investors' risk aversion. Claymore Dividend & Income Fund, a closed end fun is trading at a discount of more than 15% from its net asset value and 7 of the top holdings of Claymore are Dow stocks: Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, Intel, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble and Merck.

Barron's p16 "Buffett offers a salve for J&J's wounds" by Lawrence C. Strauss says Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway raised its position in Johnson & Johnson from 23.9 mil to 41.3 mil shares, a 73% increase.

Barron's p30 "Franklin income: stocks' payouts beat bonds" by jack Willoughby says Franklin Income Fund likes unloved large cap conglomerates including Johnson & Johnson.

Kraft KFT $29.19 +0.06 0.21% 8,330,800 NYSE: No mentions found.

McDonald's MCD $73.085 +0.115 0.16% 4,730,357 NYSE:

Barron's pM3 "Bonds v stocks: who's right about recession? by Kopin Tan says Intel's $7.4 bil offer to buy McAfee helped stocks recoup losses Fri afternoon. Home Depot flaunted a 6.8% jump in 2Q profits even though same store sales increased on 1.7% due to disciplined inventories and keeping a tight lid on employee work hours. At WalMart same store sales are down for 5 straight quarters. China accounts for 20% to 40% of the cost of goods sold among broadline retailers including roughly 5% at Home Depot. China accounts for less than 5% fo Colgate Palmolive's or Procter & Gamble's cost of goods sold. China's rising minimum wage cold help global restaurant chains like McDonald's since that gives customers there more purchasing power.Barron's "Big mergers and kiddie stocks" by Michael Santoli says in a long lasting sideways market, traditional growth stocks with multi-generational band equity often attract an outsize proportion of investor dollars. McDonald's and Coca-Cola are given as examples. McDonald's looks attractive based on its valuation, growth prospects and dividends

Fin Times p16 "Mcdonald's Rmb bond" says McDonald's raised $29 mil in renminbi bonds in China 20 years after opening is first outlset in Shenzhen. It is the first non-Chinese firmt o raise funds in renminbi.

Merck MRK $34.45 -0.26 0.75% 9,915,614 NYSE: Barron's p7 "Vacuous bond-bubble talk" by Randall W. Forsyth says the incongruity of the Dow Jones 30 Industrials paying a higher dividend yield than the 10 year Treasury speaks volumes about investors' risk aversion. Claymore Dividend & Income Fund, a closed end fun is trading at a discount of more than 15% from its net asset value and 7 of the top holdings of Claymore are Dow stocks: Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, Intel, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble and Merck.

Microsoft MSFT $24.26 -0.18 0.74% 44,020,335 NASDAQ-GS: No mentions found.

Pfizer PFE $15.95 -0.08 0.5% 40,652,042 NYSE: Barron's p7 "Vacuous bond-bubble talk" by Randall W. Forsyth says the incongruity of the Dow Jones 30 Industrials paying a higher dividend yield than the 10 year Treasury speaks volumes about investors' risk aversion. Claymore Dividend & Income Fund, a closed end fun is trading at a discount of more than 15% from its net asset value and 7 of the top holdings of Claymore are Dow stocks: Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, Intel, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble and Merck.
Procter & Gamble PG $60.001 -0.189 0.31% 10,898,998 NYSE: Barron's pM3 "Bonds v stocks: who's right about recession? by Kopin Tan says Intel's $7.4 bil offer to buy McAfee helped stocks recoup losses Fri afternoon. Home Depot flaunted a 6.8% jump in 2Q profits even though same store sales increased on 1.7% due to disciplined inventories and keeping a tight lid on employee work hours. At WalMart same store sales are down for 5 straight quarters. China accounts for 20% to 40% of the cost of goods sold among broadline retailers including roughly 5% at Home Depot. China accounts for less than 5% fo Colgate Palmolive's or Procter & Gamble's cost of goods sold. China's rising minimum wage cold help global restaurant chains like McDonald's since that gives customers there more purchasing power.

3M MMM $80.69 1.12 -1.37% 3,798,115 NYSE: No mentions found.

Travelers TRV $50.12 +0.28 0.56% 3,886,337 NYSE: No mentions found.

United Technologies UTX $68.11 -0.40 0.58% 3,237,619 NYSE: No mentions found.

Verizon VZ $29.365 -0.255 0.86% 14,686,119 Dual Listed: No mentions found.

Walmart WMT $50.28 +0.22 0.44% 10,527,195 NYSE: Barron's pM3 "Bonds v stocks: who's right about recession? by Kopin Tan says Intel's $7.4 bil offer to buy McAfee helped stocks recoup losses Fri afternoon. Home Depot flaunted a 6.8% jump in 2Q profits even though same store sales increased on 1.7% due to disciplined inventories and keeping a tight lid on employee work hours. At WalMart same store sales are down for 5 straight quarters. China accounts for 20% to 40% of the cost of goods sold among broadline retailers including roughly 5% at Home Depot. China accounts for less than 5% fo Colgate Palmolive's or Procter & Gamble's cost of goods sold. China's rising minimum wage cold help global restaurant chains like McDonald's since that gives customers there more purchasing power.

Barron's p23 'Carter's: a rare retail bright spot" by Alexander Eule says he likes Carter's a leading children's apparel retailer and wholesalers that operates 289 Carter's stores and another 175 under the OshKosh brand and sell through department stores and discount chains, including WalMart, Target, macy's JC Penney and Kohl's.
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Here are the current CEOs of the Dow 30 Companies:

AT&T T Randall L. Stephenson (Dallas, TX)
Alcoa AA Klaus Kleinfeld (NY, NY)
American Express AXP Kenneth I. Chenault (NY, NY)
Bank of America BAC Brian T. Moynihan (Charlotte, N.C.)
Boeing BA W. James McNerney, Jr. (Cyhicago, Ill)
Caterpillar CAT Douglas Oberhelman (Peoria, Ill.)
Chevron CVX John Watson (San Ramon, CA)
Cisco CSCO John Chambers (San Jose, CA)
Coca Cola KO Muhtar Kent (Atlanta, GA)
Disney DIS Robert Iger (Burbank, CA)
DuPont DD Ellen Kullman (Wilmington, DE)
ExxonMobil XOM Rex W. Tillerson (Irving, Tx)
GE Jeffrey R. Immelt (Fairfield, CT)
Hewlett-Packard HPQ Cathie Lesjak (Interim) (Palo, Alto, CA)
Home Depot HD Frank Blake (Atlanta, GA)
Intel INTC Paul S. Otellini (Santa Clara, CA)
IBM Samuel J. Palmisano (Armonk, NY)
JPMorgan Chase JPM Jamie Dimon (NY, NY)
Johnson & Johnson JNJ William C. Weldon (New Brunswick, NJ)
Kraft KFT Irene Rosenfeld (Northfield, Ill.)
McDonald's MCD Jim Skinner (Oak Brook, Ill)
Merck MRK Richard Clark (Whitehouse Station, N.J.)
Microsoft MSFT Steve Ballmer (Redmond, WA)
Pfizer PFE Jeffrey Kindler (NY, NY)
Procter & Gamble PG Bob McDonald (Cincinnati, OH)
3M MMM George W. Buckley (St. Paul, MN)
Travelers TRV Jay S. Fishman (NY, NY)
United Technologies UTX Louis Chenevert (Hartford, CT)
Verizon VZ Ivan Seidenberg (NY, NY)
Wal-Mart WMT Mike Duke (Bentonville, ARK)

Here are the Dow Jones Industrial Average 30 ranked in order of market capitalization rounded to the nearest 1/2 billion as of 8/17/10 followed by number of shares outstanding rounded to the nearest 1/2 billion:

1. Exxon Mobil XOM $307.5 [5]
2. Microsoft MSFT 217 [9]
3. WalMart WMT 190 [3.5]
4. Procter & Gamble PG 170.5 [3]
5. GE 166 [10.5]
6. IBM 161.5 [1]
7. Johnson & Johnson JNJ 161.5 [3]
8. AT&T 158.5 [6]
9. Chevron CVX 155 [2]
10. JPMorgan Chase 149.5 [4]
11. Pfizer PFE 130 [8]
12. Coke KO 128 [2.5]
13. Bank of America BAC 133 [10]
14. Cisco CSCO 125.5 [6]
15. Intel INTC 109.5 [5.5]
16. Merck MRK 107.5 [3]
17. Hewlett-Packard HPQ 95 [2.5]
18. Verizon VZ 89.5 [3]
19. McDonald's MCD 77 [1]
20. United Technologies UTX 65 [1]
21. Disney DIS 64 [2]
22. 3M MMM 59 [.5]
23. American Express AXP 50 [1]
24. Kraft KFT 51 [2]
25. Boeing BA 47.5 [1]
26. Home Depot 47 [1.5]
27. Caterpillar CAT 44 [.5]
28. DuPont DD 37 [1]
29. Travelers 23.5 [.5]
30. Alcoa AA 11 [1]

Here are the latest SEC filings as of 8/17/10 other than ownership filings, registration of shares for employee benefit plans, free writing prospectuses and third party shareholder proposals:

Symbol & Co. Name/Date of Filing/Form Filed/ Comments

AT&T T: 8/6/10 10Q re: 2Q results 6/30/10
8/4/10 8K re: offer to exchange New Cingular Wireless Notes
7/30/10 8K re: sale of 2.5% Global Notes due '15
7/22/10 8K re: 2Q earnings
6/25/10 8K: re: amendments to employee compensation plans.
5/24/10 8K: re: sale of its Sterling Commerce subsidiary to IBM for $1.4 billion in cash.

Alcoa AA: 8/10/10 8K re: tender for notes due '12
8/3/10 8K re: sale of notes
7/27/10 8K re: offering of 6.15% notes due '20
7/23/10 8K re: election of Tony Theme CFO Engineered Products & Graeme Bottger, Controller

American Express AXP: 8/16/10 2 8Ks re: delinquency and write-off statistics
8/5/10 10Q 2Q results 6/30/10
7/22/10 8K 2Q results

7/21/10 8K re: Personnel changes & Board of Dir. elections

7/15/10 8K Delinquency & write-off statistics through 6/30/10

Bank of Am BAC: 8/6/10 10Q 2Q 6/30/10
8/3/10 8K re: by-law amendments
7/27/10 8K re: issuance of Euro Medium Term Notes
7/22/10 8K re: impairment resulting from fin'l reform legislation passed by Congress

Boeing BA: 7/28/10 10Q 2Q 6/30/10
7/28/10 8K re 2Q results
6/10/10 8K re: election of Edward M. Liddy to Board of Dirs. & Audit & Fin. Committees. By-laws were amended to increase number of directors from 12 to 13.
4/28/10 8-K re: results of its Annual Meeting of Shareholders on April 26, 2010

Caterpiller CAT: 7/30/10 10Q 1Q 6/30/10
7/22/10 8K (two of them) dealing with 4Q results for period ending 6/30/10
7/22/10 8K: re: dealer statistics
6/18/10 8K re: dealer statistics.
6/17/10 8K re: plans to produce a full range of mining shovels and increase dump truck production.
/11/10 8K re: as previously announced, Board elected Douglas R. Oberhelman as CEO effective 8/1/10.
6/11/10 8K re: results of 6/9 annual meeting of shareholders.
6/1/10 8K re: purchase of Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc. for $820 million in cash from Berkshire Partners LLC and Greenbriar Equity Group LLC.
5/28/10 8K re: retirement of David B. Burritt, VP & CFO as of 6/1/10.

Chevron CVX: 8/5/10 10Q 2Q 6/30/10
7/30/10 8K re: 2Q results
7/12/10 8K re: updated on 2Q results
6/2/10 8K re: results of 5/26/10 vote at annual meeting for election of Directors & other matters.

Cisco CSCO 8/11/10 8K re: 4Q results fiscal year 7/31/10
6/29/108K 6/29/10 10b5-1 re: stock trading plans adopted by insiders

Coke KO 8/2/10 10Q 2Q 7/2/10
7/30/10 8K re: refiling of hart-Scott-Rodino filing re: acquisition of Coca-Cola Enterprises
7/21/10 8K re: 2Q results

Disney DIS 8/10/10 10Q 3Q 6/27/10
8/10/10 8K re: 3Q results

DuPont DD: 7/27/10 10Q 2Q 6/30/10
7/27/10 8K re: 2Q results
4/29/10 8K re: voting results from annual meeting held on 4/28/10.

ExxonMobil XOM: 8/4/10 10Q 2Q 6/30/10
7/29/10 8K re: 2Q results
6/25/10 8K re: completion of its acquisition of XTO Energy Inc.
6/1/10 8K re: voting results from 5/26/10 Annual Meeting of Shareholders

GE: 8/2/10 10Q 1Q 6/30/10
7/16/10 8K re: 2Q reports
6/16/10 8K re; election of James S. Tisch to Board of Directors. He is Pres. & CEO of Loew's.

Hewlett-Packard HPQ: 8/6/10 8K re: resignation of Mark V. Hurd as chairman, CEO, Pres
8/2/10 8K re: settleemnt with US Dept. of Justice re: Rille Complaint
6/8/10 8K re: 10Q
6/1/10 10Q
6/1/10 8K re: plans to invest $1 billion in its enterprise services business to enhance client experience and better position the business for growth.

Home Depot HD: 8/17/10 8K re: 2Q results 8/1/10
6/3/10 10Q
5/25/10 8K re: voting results from 5/20/10 annual meeting of shareholders.

Intel INTC: 8/4/10 8K re: antitrust settlement with US Dept. of Justice
7/30/10 10Q 2Q 6/26/10
7/22/10 8K re: agreement with FTC to delay antitrust case while settlement talks continue.
7/16/10 8K re: Intel's interest in SMART Technologies Inc. which did an IPO.
7/14/10 8K re: CFO commenting on 2Q results.
7/13/10 8K re: 2Q results.
6/22/10 8K re: agreed upon suspension of FTC admin. proceedings while settlement discussions are held.
5/21/10 8K re: voting results from 5/19/10 annual meeting of stockholders.
5/12/10 8K re: info provided at an Investor meeting by Paul S. Otellini, Pres. & CEO.
5/7/10 8K re: Micron Technology, Inc. completed its acquisition of Numonyx Holdings BV & issued shares of common stock to Numonyx shareholders.

IBM: 8/4/10 8K re: issuance of $1.5 bil of debt
7/27/10 10Q 2Q 6/30/10
7/20/10 8K re: 2Q earnings presentation.
7/19/10 8K re: 2Q results ending 6/30/10.

JPMorganChase JPM: 8/6/10 10Q 2Q 6/30/10
7/22/10 8K re: completion of public offering of debt issues.

Johnson & Johnson JNJ : 8/11/10 10Q 2Q 7/4/10
7/20/10 8K re: 2Q results ending 7/4/10
7/19/10 8K re: Bd of Dirs. election
7/12/10 K re: agreement to buy Micrus Endovascular.

Kraft KFT: 8/6/10 10Q 2Q 6/30/10
8/5/10 8K re: 2Q results
5/21/10 8K: re voting

McDonalds MCD: 8/10/10 8K re: July and end of year sale statistics
8/5/10 10Q 2Q 6/30/10
7/23/10 8K re: 2Q results ending 6/30/10
6/9/10 8K re: year to date sales figures
/24/10 8K re: voting results of 5/20/10 annual shareholders' meeting

Merck MRK: 8/6/10 10Q 2Q 6/30/10
7/30/10 8K re: 2Q results
7/8/10 8K re: global restructuring program in conjunction with the integration of the Schering-Plough acquisition; reduction of work force by 15% & closing of plants and research sites.
5/28/10 8K re: Kenneth C. Frazier to succeed Richard T. Clark as Pres. Of the Company as of 5/1/10 and Dr. Sam Their's retirement from the Board & voting results from 5/25/10 annual meeting of shareholders.

Microsoft MSFT: 7/30/10 10K year ended 6/30/10
7/22/10 8K re: 4Q results ending 6/30/10.
6/18/10 8K re: sale of $1.25 bil of Zero Coupon Convertible Sr. Notes due '13 (and related 6/9 8K).
5/28/10 8K re: retirement of Robbie Bach, pres. Of Entertainment & Devices Div.

Pfizer PFE: 8/12/10 10Q 2Q 7/4/10
8/3/10 8K re: 2Q results
5/26/10 8K re: retirement of Dr. Martin Mackay, Sr. VP & Pres, Pharma Therapeutics R&D of Pfizer Inc.

Procter & Gamble PG: 8/13/10 10K year ended 6/30/10
8/3/10 8K re: exec comp plans
8/3/10 8K re: 4Q and year end results
7/13/10 8K re: declaration of quarterly dividend.
5/19/10 8K re: closing of 100 bil Euro 0.955 Note Offering due 2015.

3M MMM: 8/4/10 10Q 2Q 6/30/10
7/22/10 8K re: 2Q results
6/28/10 8K re: projected sales range for 2Q '10.

Travelers TRV: 7/22/10 8K & 10Q
6/15/10 8K re: $1 bil 3 year revolving credit agreement.
5/7/10 8K re: voting results of 5/4/10 annual meeting of shareholders
4/23/10 10Q

United Technologies UTX: 7/26/10 10Q 1Q 6/30/10
7/21/10 8K re: 2Q results
5/14/10 8K re: exercise of its rights to redeem $500 mil of outstanding 7.125% Notes due 11/15/10.

Verizon Communications Inc. VZ: 7/29/10 10Q 2Q 6/30/10
7/27/10 8K re: 2Q results
7/23/10 8K re: 2Q results ending 6/30/10
7/1/10 8K re: completion of acquisition of Frontier Communications Corp. and spin off of shares to VZ shareholders.
6/11/10 8K re: agreement with certain unions.
5/27/10 8K re: record date of 6/7/10 re: proposed spin off of shares of New Communications Holdings.
5/12/10 8K re: voting results from 5/6/10 annual meeting of shareholders.

WalMart WMT: 8/17/10 8K re: 2Q results 7/31/10
7/7/10 8K re: underwriting to the public of several series of notes.
7/2/10 8K re: departure of John E. Fleming EVP & Chief Merchandising Officer effective 8/1/10.
6/29/10 8K re: appointment of Eduwardo Castro-Wright as CEO fo global.com & William S. Simon as CEO of Walmart U.S.
6/9/10 8K re: results of 6/4 annual meeting of shareholders.
6/14/10 10Q.