Even Defensive Stocks Closed Crummy

DJIA               12,114.10; Down 120.24 (0.98%)
NASDAQ          2,368.00; Down 36.21 (1.51%)
S&P500           1,387.17; Down 16.00 (1.14%)
10YR-Bond       4.5150%; Down 0.0410
NYSE Volume    3,313,037,000
NASD Volume    2,444,310,000
CBOE VIX         18.61 (huge difference from just over 10 last Friday)

Wow, this is a bit of a surprise.  After seeing Doug’s 52-week low club and seeing the names on that are on there and then after looking at the "20 Defensive Stocks for a Crummy Market" this does not feel over yet.  I was on CNBC last night and when they asked me what I wanted to see before feeling like a bottom had been reached I responded that I wanted to see the list of 20 Defensive Stocks that we published reach a bottom.  There was not time to Name them but I noted that they are the ones that make things you eat, drink, and smoke.  That of course is only part, because there are some utilities, some drug names, and some consumer products.  On Tuesday we hit 12,086 intraday or so and the lows are not clear because of the NYSE shenanigans.  On Thursday we got to 12,059 and today we closed at 12,114.

Here is the full list of first line defensive stocks, and if only ONE OF TWENTY CLOSED UP then it just isn’t very comforting to tip toe in yet unless these gap down.  Be sure to read into the logic behind these because these will fall in a steadily falling market, but they usually don’t fall as bad as the overall market.  The good news is that they aren’t falling as bad as the overall market, but they are not signalling any levels of comefort yet.  Anyway, here’s the list:

Ticker  Close       Change
KO      $45.89      $(0.63)
PEP     $62.93      $(0.50)
JNJ     $61.95      $(0.50)
MRK     $44.19      $0.20
PFE      $24.79      $(0.25)
PG       $63.16      $(0.52)
CAG     $24.41      $(0.73)
BUD     $48.14      $(0.88)
HRL     $36.43      $(0.38)
CPB     $39.82      $(0.63)
K        $49.24      $(0.45)
GIS      $55.50      $(0.62)
DUK     $19.49      $(0.32)
CL       $66.65      $(0.28)
MO      $83.48      $(0.86)
RAI      $59.66      $(0.73)
MCD     $43.67      $(0.43)
CLX     $62.90      $(0.61)
KFT     $31.85      $(0.52)
TAP     $82.83      $(1.10)

Jon C. Ogg
March 2, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at [email protected]; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.