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The 24/7 Wall Street Corporate Power Rankings of the thirty-two most important companies in America are determined by earnings, analyst rankings, important corporate news, trends in each firm’s industry, product introductions, management strength and changes, and credible rumors. It is, in effect, a new version of the DJIA.
The Corporate Power Rankings are released at midnight on each Sunday based on performance during the previous week.
Apple took the top spot as its market cap moved toward $200 billion and it set April 3 to launch the iPad. Ford moved into second place as its February sales topped GMs for the first time in 12 years.
Home Depot dropped to 31st as home sales dropped.
Reuters: Met Life (
This week’s list of UNUSUAL SUSPECTS for stocks to watch is actually much different from what we have seen in other reports. Earnings season is finally over, so we only have two earnings we gave previews and color in for H&R Block Inc. (NYSE: HRB) and Tivo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO). Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has two trading issues to watch out for this week and beyond. Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN) has a significant binary FDA event that will be important for Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) and Alkermes, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALKS). Patriot Coal Corporation (NYSE: PCX) is one to watch for either M&A or at least for business improvements, or for profit taking. We have a Barron’s trifecta in telecom in BCE, Inc. (NYSE: BCE), Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (NYSE: MBT), and QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM). Zanett, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZANE) is the new micro-cap penny stock for traders to watch, at least until the next one comes along.
The Toyota brand may be much more resilient than most experts would ever have imagined. That is bad new for its primary competitors in the US market–GM, Ford (F), Chrysler, Honda (HMC), and Nissan.
24/7 Wall Street has a real-time index we keep of the 500 largest market caps of US equities. This is 
Reuters: The House passed the $15 billion jobs bill.
The Holy Grail of consumer electronics devices is one that would combine the best features of the Apple (AAPL) iPad, iPod, and iPhone. Sony (SNE) means to introduce products to challenge the Jobs & Co. devices. The Japanese firm has no other choice. It needs to at least try to be a force in the markets which are dominated by Apple, Nintendo, and the Amazon (AMZN) Kindle, especially after the huge success of its Walkman in the Eighties and early Nineties. 
It has been expected for some time that global PC sales would rise this year as the economy recovers and the demand for Microsoft (MSFT) Windows 7 causes people and business to replace existing machines or, in rare cases, become first-time buyers.
The 52-week low search is a common tool used by value investors, momentum investors, growth investors, and traders in various price screens to help decide when to a buy or sell a stock. The 52-week lows in many sectors are exponentially lower than what share prices reflect today because a year ago we were at the zenith of the steady panic selling. The more commonly used trading day is march 9, 2009 for the low close in the markets even though the lows of many stocks came in the few days before or after that turning point. We wanted to see how this calendar roll would affect the 52-week ranges as we get one-week, two-weeks, and one-month beyond that March 9 date.
Reuters: The Senate rejected a plan to send $250 to the elderly.
Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) has been in trouble. About all that can be said after it recently hit 52-week lows is that it has at least bounced about 5% from its recent lows. Most traders would caution that stocks hitting a new 52-week low rarely do it just one day. Today Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services cut its outlook on Palm to negative from positive.
Updated throughout the day.
Reuters: The Senate overcame opposition to allow jobless benefits to be extended.
Kodak (EK) sued Apple, RIMM, and Motorola (MOT) for patent infringements. Nokia sued Apple (AAPL). Nokia claims to have patents that the Apple uses in the iPhone. Now Apple (AAPL) has filed a patent suit against Chinese manufacturer HTC which makes its own Google (GOOG) Android-based handset and builds phone for a number of other companies.
E-reader marketers like Amazon (AMZN) and Barnes & Noble (BKS) have caught a break just before Apple comes to market with its iPad table computer. The iPad, with its 10.1″ screen, touchpad operation, and powerful processor is widely seen as an alternative to e-readers, particularly the successful Amazon Kindle.
Reuters: GM will recall 1.3 million cars for steering problems.
The 24/7 Wall Street Corporate Power Rankings of the thirty-two most important companies in America are determined by earnings, analyst rankings, important corporate news, trends in each firm’s industry, product introductions, management strength and changes, and credible rumors. It is, in effect, a new version of the DJIA.
Reuters: Some senators want hearings on the Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) bailouts.
Apple (AAPL) found that three of the companies that provide it with components to build its products employ underage workers. Apple’s 2010 Supplier Responsibility reports 
Everyone, or at least most everyone, loves dividends. While some investors love share buybacks, dividends seem to be the new way we are seeing for companies to reward shareholders. The good news is that many big companies are raising their dividends after the 2009 wave of dividend cuts. Two of our recent picks for dividend hikes, Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) and Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE: KMB), have raised their payouts just this week. These two just beg the question about which other companies will join in on the dividend hike brigade. We have given odds on three companies we continue to expect dividend hikes in 2010. These are J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) and The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW).
