What do you get when you combine a strong jobs report plus a promising beginning to earnings season, and soothing words from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke? A new record closing high for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) , of course.
The blue chips jumped 169 points today, or 1.1%, to close out at 15,460, topping the previous closing high of 15,409 that it hit on May 28 of this year. The S&P 500 also hit a new closing high. The Dow's intraday high from May 22, of 15,542, still stands. Today's surge came as Ben Bernanke said that the Fed's accommodative monetary policy would stay in place in order to lower the unemployment rate, which currently sits at 7.6%. It should come as no surprise to see the markets respond like this, as investors have been obsessed with monetary policy since Bernanke first seriously floated the idea of tapering the central bank's $85 billion a month bond-buying program on May 22. His recent statement seems to indicate that the Fed will not be hasty in reducing the stimulus.
5 Best Blue Chip Stocks To Watch Right Now: Chevron Corporation(CVX)
Chevron Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in petroleum, chemicals, mining, power generation, and energy operations worldwide. It operates in two segments, Upstream and Downstream. The Upstream segment involves in the exploration, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas; processing, liquefaction, transportation, and regasification associated with liquefied natural gas; transportation of crude oil through pipelines; and transportation, storage, and marketing of natural gas, as well as holds interest in a gas-to-liquids project. The Downstream segment engages in the refining of crude oil into petroleum products; marketing of crude oil and refined products primarily under the Chevron, Texaco, and Caltex brand names; transportation of crude oil and refined products by pipeline, marine vessel, motor equipment, and rail car; and manufacture and marketing of commodity petrochemicals, plastics for industrial uses, and fuel and lubricant additives. It a lso produces and markets coal and molybdenum; and holds interests in 13 power assets with a total operating capacity of approximately 3,100 megawatts, as well as involves in cash management and debt financing activities, insurance operations, real estate activities, energy services, and alternative fuels and technology business. Chevron Corporation has a joint venture agreement with China National Petroleum Corporation. The company was formerly known as ChevronTexaco Corp. and changed its name to Chevron Corporation in May 2005. Chevron Corporation was founded in 1879 and is based in San Ramon, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Tyler Crowe]
In the same way that it's more difficult for big investment funds to grow because of sheer size, it becomes harder for integrated major oil companies such as Chevron (NYSE: CVX ) to move the oil-production needle. In fact, the company has joined�ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM ) in seeing production shrink recently. Much of Chevron's recent slip comes from a shutdown at several facilities for maintenance, so while that may not be too much to worry about in the near future, it does raise questions about whether the company can grow its production.
5 Best Blue Chip Stocks To Watch Right Now: Colgate-Palmolive Company(CL)
Colgate-Palmolive Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets consumer products worldwide. It offers oral care products, including toothpaste, toothbrushes, and mouth rinses, as well as dental floss and pharmaceutical products for dentists and other oral health professionals; personal care products, such as liquid hand soap, shower gels, bar soaps, deodorants, antiperspirants, shampoos, and conditioners; and home care products comprising laundry and dishwashing detergents, fabric conditioners, household cleaners, bleaches, dishwashing liquids, and oil soaps. The company offers its oral, personal, and home care products under the Colgate Total, Colgate Max Fresh, Colgate 360 Advisors' Opinion:
- [By Jon C. Ogg]
Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight and the price target is now $68 (versus a $59.93 close) at Morgan Stanley.
- [By Wallace Witkowski]
Other earnings highlights in the coming week include Dow components McDonald�� Corp. (MCD) , DuPont (DD) , AT&T Inc. (T) , and Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) . Notable S&P 500 companies include Halliburton Co. (HAL) , Netflix Inc. (NFLX) �, Amgen Inc. (AMGN) �, TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP) �, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) �, Colgate-Palmolive Co. (CL) �, Ford Motor Co. (F) �, Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) �, and United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) �
- [By Dividend Growth Investor]
In a previous article, I outlined that it is getting more difficult to find quality dividend paying stocks to buy. Most of the usual suspects like Kimberly-Clark (KMB) or Colgate-Palmolive (CL) are very overvalued today, which prevents me from adding to my positions there. Other companies like Chevron (CVX) are attractively valued today, but unfortunately my portfolio is overweight in them. Currently I find the oil sector to be cheap and have some of the lowest P/E ratios in the market. However, I would hate to be concentrated in one sector which is exposed to the fluctuating prices in its commodity products.
- [By James Well]
Analysts��Consensus Position on Pfizer
Thirteen analysts including those at TheStreet, Thomson Reuters/Verus, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Barclays Capital, Morgan Stanley and Argus Research are optimistic about the performance of Pfizer going forward and, hence, reiterated a consensus buy recommendation at an average target price of $31.78 per share. Last Wednesday, analysts at Goldman Sachs removed Pfizer from Goldman�� conviction buy list (CL) where Pfizer has been since Aug. 9, 2011, and placed it on the buy list but raised its price target from $34 to $35 per share. Jami Rubin, an analyst with Goldman Sachs, claimed that Pfizer has gone up by 82.5% since being added to the CL as against 53.9% for the S&P 500 during the period and, therefore, there was the need to replace Pfizer with AbbVie at a price target of $60 because they claimed AbbVie has greater upside at this time.
Top 5 Warren Buffett Stocks To Own For 2014: International Business Machines Corporation(IBM)
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) provides information technology (IT) products and services worldwide. Its Global Technology Services segment provides IT infrastructure and business process services, including strategic outsourcing, process, integrated technology, and maintenance services, as well as technology-based support services. The company?s Global Business Services segment offers consulting and systems integration, and application management services. Its Software segment offers middleware and operating systems software, such as WebSphere software to integrate and manage business processes; information management software for database and enterprise content management, information integration, data warehousing, business analytics and intelligence, performance management, and predictive analytics; Tivoli software for identity management, data security, storage management, and datacenter automation; Lotus software for collaboration, messaging, and so cial networking; rational software to support software development for IT and embedded systems; business intelligence software, which provides querying and forecasting tools; SPSS predictive analytics software to predict outcomes and act on that insight; and operating systems software. Its Systems and Technology segment provides computing and storage solutions, including servers, disk and tape storage systems and software, point-of-sale retail systems, and microelectronics. The company?s Global Financing segment provides lease and loan financing to end users and internal clients; commercial financing to dealers and remarketers of IT products; and remanufacturing and remarketing services. It serves financial services, public, industrial, distribution, communications, and general business sectors. The company was formerly known as Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. and changed its name to International Business Machines Corporation in 1924. IBM was founded in 1910 and is based in Armonk, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By David Kass]
In its annual report for 2011, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) (BRK.B) reported common stock investments in eleven companies that each had a market value exceeding $1 billion. However, there has been only one of these companies that Warren Buffett has been adding to every year since 2005. That company is Wells Fargo (WFC). Berkshire further added to its stake in Wells Fargo during the first quarter of 2012. Currently, Wells Fargo is Berkshire�� second largest investment, valued at $13.7 billion. (Berkshire�� largest common stock investment is in Coca-Cola (KO), with a market value of $15.6 billion. Berkshire�� third largest investment is in IBM (IBM), which has a market value of $12.6 billion.)
- [By WALLSTCHEATSHEET.COM]
IBM is a global technology company that provides essential products and services to companies and consumers worldwide. An IBM executive said that the company is still facing difficulties linked to a slow economy. The stock has been struggling over the last couple of years and continues to see lower highs and lower lows. Over the last four quarters, earnings have been rising while revenues have been declining which has produced conflicting feelings about IBM�� earnings announcements. Relative to its peers and sector, IBM has been a weak year-to-date performer. WAIT AND SEE what IBM does this coming quarter.
5 Best Blue Chip Stocks To Watch Right Now: Philip Morris International Inc(PM)
Philip Morris International Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products in markets outside of the United States. Its international product brand line comprises Marlboro, Merit, Parliament, Virginia Slims, L&M, Chesterfield, Bond Street, Lark, Muratti, Next, Philip Morris, and Red & White. The company also offers its products under the A Mild, Dji Sam Soe, and A Hijau in Indonesia; Diana in Italy; Optima and Apollo-Soyuz in the Russian Federation; Morven Gold in Pakistan; Boston in Colombia; Belmont, Canadian Classics, and Number 7 in Canada; Best and Classic in Serbia; f6 in Germany; Delicados in Mexico; Assos in Greece; and Petra in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It operates primarily in the European Union, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Canada, and Latin America. The company is based in New York, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Holly LaFon]
GuruFocus: You��e buying a lot of global brands, and they all had in common emerging market growth, like Proctor and Gamble (PG), Pepsi (PEP), Philip Morris (PM), Johnson and Johnson (JNJ). Is that was a conscious investment theme or is that a coincidence?
- [By Holly LaFon]
His top four holdings are Philip Morris International (PM), Nestle SA Reg (NSRGY), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), CIE Financiere Rich (CFRHF).
Philip Morris International (PM)
5 Best Blue Chip Stocks To Watch Right Now: Apple Inc.(AAPL)
Apple Inc., together with subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and markets personal computers, mobile communication and media devices, and portable digital music players, as well as sells related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications worldwide. The company sells its products worldwide through its online stores, retail stores, direct sales force, third-party wholesalers, resellers, and value-added resellers. In addition, it sells third-party Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iPod compatible products, including application software, printers, storage devices, speakers, headphones, and other accessories and peripherals through its online and retail stores; and digital content and applications through the iTunes Store. The company sells its products to consumer, small and mid-sized business, education, enterprise, government, and creative markets. As of September 25, 2010, it had 317 retail stores, including 233 stores in the United States and 84 stores internationally. The company, formerly known as Apple Computer, Inc., was founded in 1976 and is headquartered in Cupertino, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Evan Niu, CFA]
Search giant Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) has updated its flagship Google Search app on Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL ) iOS platform to version 3.0.0, bringing its Now virtual assistant to the rival operating system for the first time. Now offers functionalities that will rival Apple's own Siri virtual assistant.
- [By Daniel Sparks]
Another report places Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) at the top when it comes to customer satisfaction. But some of Apple's competitors are closing in -- particularly, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) .
- [By Tim Brugger]
BlackBerry and Nokia are often mentioned in the same breath, as the once high-flying device makers work to reinvent themselves. A marked advantage that Nokia has over BlackBerry is the ability to continually introduce new devices targeting different price points, markets, and touchscreen or keyboard users. BlackBerry plays strictly in the high-end smartphone niche, competing more directly with industry-leading Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) and its iPhone. Making a dent in Apple's smartphone sales ��37.4 million iPhones sold last quarter alone ��is a tall order, even as industry pundits bemoan Apple's lack of innovation and declining margins. Despite recent pressures, Apple remains a worthy competitor, and if BlackBerry's going to make a dent, it looks like the Q10 will have to do it.
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