Weekly Wrap

Whew. It was another busy week in my life. I moved the whole fam damily* from Calgary to Minnesota, for the last time. I'm officially a Minnesotan... forever. It feels good. After our son Wilson played in the Alberta Provincial Championship game in Red Deer last Sunday (and won!), we hopped in our two trucks and drove across the countries. We hit the border at midnight, only to find out that we had three more hours to go to get to Minot, North Dakota, the first city with decent hotels. Anyway, long story short, I'm sooooooo happy to be back in Minnesota, home of the very large mosquito, don'tcha know.

I must be crazy.

Whilst we were driving, the markets moved.. up! Rejoice this weekend 'cuz it's been a rarity this year. (First time in 7 weeks!) Matter of fact, if you get a second, check out what I'm doing this weekend... www.moondancejam.com. There'll be some rejoicing going on with REO Speedwagon and Pat Benatar. Can it get any better? This past week the Dow was up 2.8%, the NASDAQ was up 4.0%, and the S&P was up 2.1%. The Nasdaq is back above 2000!! Hit me with your best shot.

The biggest reason the market did so well this week is that we're in earnings season... and the season is having some uncharacteristically good weather.

Chick Jana will be so pumped to hear that Harley Davidson (HDI) came out with spectacular earnings this week. She owns stock in the company. Their stock has hit a new high of $51.80 as they announced that they had to boost production in cycles twice this year and that on Monday they're coming out with a new family of bikes. (That's what they call it, "family of bikes;" like they really believe that the hogs are blood brothers.) I bought Jana a pair of Harley boots for her birthday last year, and she's getting another Harley gift this year. (She doesn't know yet, and hopefully she doesn't read this market wrap until Sunday, 'cuz I'm giving her the gift on Saturday.) You see, the cool thing about asking someone what stocks they own is that you will forever have an idea what to get them for their birthday. She should have never told me she owned Harley stock because soon she's going to be completely outfitted in all the garb... sans a bloody cycle. Sorry Jana.

I might have to buy some shares of Safeway grocery stores in the near future. They met their earnings this past week, and I'm thinking that food would be a great gift for me on my birthday. (Hint to Jana: Lots of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, Tostitos chips, salsa, and Diet Coke. Oh Happy Day.)

Chick-held General Electric (GE) also had some good news. For the twentieth straight year, GE has kept their quarterly earnings intact as they again reported record growth. Also, CEO Jack Welch announced his retirement date to be September 7, 2001 at their annual board meeting. His successor, Jeffrey Immelt (for no one), will take over from there. (Have you seen that M&M is coming out with their Green M&M movie, "I Melt For No One"? You heard it here first, and read my article on the company if you wanna know more.)

As usual, it can't all be good news... there were also a couple of bummers. Chick Cheryl wrote an article a while ago about the online grocery delivery service, Webvan (WBVN). This past week, the van ran out of gas and shut down 'er engine. Two thousand people will be losing their jobs. The company spent over $830 million in the past two years without showing a profit. For those living in Minnesota, check out an alternative online grocer, www.Simondelivers.com They expect to be profitable in the next year. Hmmm... maybe it's something we should watch in the near future.

Looks like my favorite magazine, Individual Investor, has no future. The magazine has decided to cease publication much to my dismay. I wonder what their editor is going to do now? Maybe just be happily married to CNBC's Maria Bartiromo and be her househusband.

Well, it's Time For Me To Fly and Take It On the Run, baby... I Don't Want To Lose You, but I Can't Fight This Feeling... REO is waiting.

Chick Karin

*My friend Lisa uses this terminology, and now that she is my Minnesota neighbor, I thought I'd say it. You know, to try and fit back in with the locals.

Closing Market Numbers