NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Blackout be damned!* Engines full speed ahead! The national mood seemed to recover nicely on Monday after the damned nonsense blackout last week.
And so, too, did stocks. And what with companies like Lowe's reporting better-than-expecteds, and even tech stocks kickin' up their heels, what's not to like? For the day, the Dow climbed 90 to 9,412, bustin' thru 9,400 to a 14-month high!! As for the Naz, it was up 37 (wow! 2.2 percent) to 1739....S&P JUST missed closing at 1,000 (999.74).
Hey watch me, Dave Brubeck (Kalifornia Kool. Revisionists don't like him so much these days, but I do. Forget "Take Five," dig "Blue Rondo A La Turk") I mean Andy Serwer, on CNN's "American Morning," "In the Money" and Headline News. Read Loose Change to find out what you can do with your (terrible) stolen Holiday Inn towel!
'YARD Relief and retail. Yup, we woke up Monday, and America and New York and by golly even Cleveland still existed and it was just another glorious August day...
Lowe's did chicken right again, and the stock, she moved. WMT hit a high (see below), Home Depot, Walgreen, Ann Taylor, even Toys 'R' Us all moved higher...
And hey, remember PLUG, that fuel-cell stock that hit $150 back in the spring of 2000??? Well it was smokin' and sparkin' after the blackout, climbing from $4 and change to $5 (down today a bit, though). On its way back to $150, baby!! (That was a joke.)...
As for techs: Intel, Dell, Broadcom, and Amazon were BIG winners, also all the chippies like Altera, KLA, Novellus, etc...
Even with all the sturm and drang of last week, the markets were still up nicely. This goes well with me warning that August was a bust month for stocks (See, Mr. Sellers! I jinxed myself!)...
As for the blackout, well, First Energy fell some 10 percent. The company says it's too early to tell whether it's to blame, but let's just put it this way: Something doesn't smell so good in Denmark...
*Interestingly, The Damned have a song titled "Let's Wait For the Blackout." Not a bad one.
WAL-MART WANDERINGS So I was on vacay last week, and I spent a fair bit of time in America's store. (Actually that would be Sam Walton's idea of a perfect vacation!) My first conclusion is my, but don't they have a lot of beef jerky displays! (And of course I bought some! So cheap!)
Store was really hopping, it was hot and back-to-school was going down. My kids totally dug buying Sam's soda out of the vending machine for 30 cents. ("I can buy five cans for what a Coke costs some places!") Sour note: Some 200 Wal-Marts were closed in the blackout. End note: Mother ship WMT ain't slowing down...
There was a Kmart nearby and it offered stark contrast. Big K was clean but it was dead. Prices seemed competitive -- in fact, a can of tennis balls was $1.79 at the K, where same can was $1.89 at the W. Sam Walton, a major tennis player would be spinning in his grave. Still, WMT's amazing growth story doesn't make everyone happy. Not at all...
Reader writes: "Serwer, you guys cover rural America about as well as you cover rural Mongolia. Here's what you do: Go spend a few days in Brookfield, Missouri (population 4,800, down from 5,000 13 years ago), and visit the Sav-A-Lot Grocery store. That is the only grocery store still surviving in town since the local Wal-Mart Supercenter opened its grocery department. There used to be four locally owned supermarkets, now only one...Needless to say, about the only significant employer in the town is also...Wal-Mart...Wal-Mart is not a matriarch, it is a monster like the big Alien mother in Alien II."
(FORGET OPRAH!) YOU MUST READ "Krakatoa: The Day The World Exploded" by Simon Winchester. Really good.
QUESTIONS Everyone says that the way to end the terrorist threat is to "get" all the terrorists. Okay, but what if they keep coming? Isn't anyone asking the deeper questions, like why do they hate us? Why do they want to kill us? And no, the answer isn't "because we are the greatest country in the world and they hate our freedom," at least if it is, it's only partly right and more complicated than that.
I also think that these terror leaders just use us to garner power. As in: "Let me lead you against these evildoers, sign up here and make a contribution." Easy way to become a rich leader. But that's not the whole picture either. In WWII, Japan and Germany (okay and Italy) were a case of nationalism run amok (a Malay word 'amok'). It seems preposterous that one of those three countries would wage war on us today, but that's probably only because we beat them! And now this.
This, I'm not sure what this is. Arabism? Islamism? Maybe, but why? Why now? Are our elected officials trying to answer, or are they even asking, these questions?
Loose Change
Dan says: "'(From a press release): ATLANTA -- In household laundry rooms and on clotheslines across the nation, a piece of Americana lives on...through towels. 'Borrowed' Holiday Inn towels, that is. Recognizing this trend as guests' affinity for the beloved brand rather than petty theft, Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts wants to wipe the slate clean as the hotel chain declares Aug. 28, 2003 Towel Amnesty Day. Over Labor Day weekend, Holiday Inn officially will give amnesty to those guests who have 'borrowed' Holiday Inn towels during the brand's 51-year history....'
We conducted a study which revealed that 1 in 5 Americans has taken a hotel towel (I know I have). Holiday Inn alone loses a whopping 560,000 towels a year...."
Mike says: "Please remain CALM! Cal-Main Foods, Inc., ticker CALM, announced a reverse split: 1 for 2,500 today, according to CBS MarketWatch."...
(Kind of) Deep Blue section: "Folks it's a house, not a personal hedge fund -- interest rates are going to go up sooner or later. Beware...Here's my California nightmare scenario -- one week before the election, Gray Davis resigns. Does Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante take over?"
Boy do I hate to watch Jeff Weaver pitch, and I like him. Like a train wreck...
So let's see if my Royals can keep it up against my Yankees now that they have Beltran back!
Andrew Serwer is editor-at-large of Fortune magazine.
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