Maybe you wonder, as I do, what sort of exuberance (be it rational or irrational) drives the DJIA ever higher, despite the economy's current woes. But some (like David A. Gaffen of the Wall Street Journal's "MarketBeat" column [subscription required]) are wondering why it wasn't there already.
He ran a few numbers for us. Two months before the previous all-time high was set, in November 1999, the Dow index makers changed the lineup. Chevron, Goodyear, Sears and Union Carbide were removed; in their place went Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) and SBC Communications -- later, SBC merged with AT&T, Inc. (NYSE:T).
Since that day? Microsoft is down 46%, and Intel is down a striking 61.3%. Home Depot isn't doing so hot either, down 40.9%.
Why aren't we at an all-time high today? It's all Microsoft's (and Intel's, and Home Depot's) fault.
Closing Bell: Economic Catapult for Thanksgiving & Black Friday (WMT, TGT, GRMN, GOOG, MSFT)
Deere up on Q4 earnings performance
Reid Hoffman: LinkedIn will go public (at some point)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-28-2006 @ 12:40PM
Don Wenzel said...
I can't under stand how a company as large as Home Depot can treat customers so poorly. I signed my roofing contract on 9-14-05, Home Depot has now installed three roofs on my house and are getting ready to install the fourth one. They pay their contractors as little as possible and that is why they get poor quality contractors. Home Depot does not return phone calls, emails or letters for weeks or never. When you see my web page you can see the distruction they do to peoples lives and property. When you search the internet for "poor customer service from home depot" you can read for days, how do they get away with this?
http://www.freewebs.com/myroof
Thank you,
Don Wenzel
Oxford, Michigan