All 3 Major Indices Enjoy A Second Day of Gains

All 3 major indices closed up today for the second day in a row. An estimated 1.88 billion shares were traded on The Big Board.

The best performance on The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) today came from United Technologies; shares of United Technologies gained $1.98 to close @ $56.45 per share. United Technologies is the global #1 manufacturer of elevators and air conditioners.

The worst performance on the DJIA came from Johnson + Johnson; shares of J + J lost $1.83 today to close @ $59.36 per share.

Cingular Wireless, which is the #1 U.S. cell phone service provider and is co-owned by AT&T and BellSouth, has reported Q4 profit of $204 million after adding a healthy 1.82 million new customers. Shares of AT&T added $0.21 to close @ $24.66 per share, while shares of BellSouth gained $0.11 to close @ $26.92 per share.

General Motors added $1.20 to close @ $23.05 per share.

Shares of Wal-Mart gained $0.47 to close @ $45.72 per share.

Shares of Coca-Cola added $0.40 to close @ $40.90 per share.

Shares of DuPont lost $0.29 today to close @ $39.26 per share.

Shares of McDonald's gained $0.14 to close @ $35.85 per share.

Shares of Google gained $15.53 to close @ $443.03 per share; the stock gained another $0.62 in after-hours trading.

Shares of Lexmark added $5.18 (11%) to close @ $51.08 per share. Lexmark has plans to cut jobs and will also freeze its employee pension plan. Lexmark is the #2 U.S. printer maker.

Shares of EMC Corporation gained $0.39 to close @ $13.65 per share. EMC is the global #1 manufacturer of data storage computers and software.

Shares of Coach Inc. added $2.82 to close @ $34.89 per share. Coach is the #1 U.S. seller of upscale leather goods.

There's still some violence in Nigeria but NYMEX crude for future delivery continues to get cheaper (currently @ $66.79 per barrel.) Investors are less worried about Iran and current inventories should be sufficient to meet current and near-future demand.

Disney is buying animated movie hitmaker Pixar in a deal worth $7.4 billion. Steve Jobs will sit on Disney's board and will become one of Disney's largest shareholders. Disney is paying a premium in this deal, and the Pixar people will end up having complete creative control of Disney's animation studio, but the investment may be a sound one, as Pixar is well known for their hit animation feature films like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc. and The Incredibles.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs bought the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd. back in 1986 and created the company that we now know as Pixar. Jobs paid $10 million for the Lucasfilm spin-off, and when the Disney buyout is completed, Jobs will have a stake in Disney that's worth an estimated $3.7 billion. Not a bad investment, eh?

Shares of Disney gained $0.47 to close @ $25.99 per share in regular trading today, then lost $0.09 in after-hours trading. Shares of Pixar fell by $0.70 to close @ $57.57 in regular trading, then gained $1.51 in after-hours action.

The best programs from The WB and UPN television networks are moving to a new CW television network later this year. The new network will be co-owned by CBS and Warner Brothers; The WB and UPN will cease to exist.

Today's Numbers:

DJIA: Closed Up @ 10,712.22 (+23.45)

NASDAQ: Closed Up @ 2,265.25 (+16.78)

S&P 500: Closed Up @ 1,266.86 (+3.04)

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NYMEX Crude Oil Future is currently $66.79/barrel

New York Spot Gold closed Down @ $557.90/ounce

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