Weekly Wrap

Anyone else sick of this market? I'm just about ready to puke. (Which has been the norm around this house lately with everyone getting an early summer flu... including our guests who flew up for the Calgary Stampede.) The Dow was down 2.4% for the week, the Nasdaq down 7.2%, and the S&P down 3%. I am so sick of the market I just booked a Disney cruise. Lord knows Mickey doesn't give a Donald Duck about the Nasdaq or the Dow.

Speaking of Disney (DIS), on Friday they announced that they would be closing their indoor amusement park, DisneyQuest, in Chicago. The five-story complex in the heart of Chicago's "Magnificent Mile" shopping stretch features virtual rides, the kind where you sit in a capsule and it shakes you up like you are really on a roller coaster. They just aren't making as much money as they thought they would. Hurry, hurry, you have until September 4th to start your puking. After that, the virtual doors are closed.

Pfizer (PFE) is closing its doors on their experimental anti-HIV drug Remune. The drug has had mixed results in clinical trials in which it was to help rebuild the immune system of HIV patients. The partner company in these trials, Immune Response Corp. (IMNR) plummeted 50% on the news. Now that Pfizer has dropped Remune, Immune Response regains full rights to the product.

Honeywell (HON) and General Electric (GE) are still in the news. After the failed merger between the two, Honeywell's Chief Executive Michael Bonsignore has been asked to step down. He had been with the company for only fifteen months. Honeywell's board of directors has decided to bring back sixty-six year-old Lawrence Bossidy, the man who had the job before Bonsignore. They hope that this move may prevent a hostile take-over of the company and he can somehow manage to get their financial statements in better shape. (Tip: Puking is the fastest way to weight loss, but not the best way to get in better shape.)

And now for the worst news of the week, and could almost make a Chick regurgitate the freshest of worms...

Data storage giant and Chick-held EMC (EMC) warned that its revenues and earnings for the second quarter would fall well short of Wall Street estimates due to the global slowdown in technology spending. This was also because they have been heavily promoting their products this last quarter while at the same time deeply discounting them. On the news, shares of EMC tumbled 27%, turned my stomach, and consequently I rushed to the bathroom. The whole tech sector went right down the toilet with it.

It was a short market week, which we should thankful for. The only good fireworks were on the day the market was closed.

I hope your weekend is better than my week! (I'm going to get myself to that Stampede if it kills me.)

Closing Market Numbers