The Daily Dow
Wednesday, July 2, 1997
by Robert Sheard

LEXINGTON, KY. (July 2, 1997) -- Writing about the Dow stocks every day, sometimes I begin to question my perspective on these thirty companies. Are they really the powerhouses we hold them out to be? Are they really ubiquitous? Are they really the bluest of American Blue Chips?

One way to gauge the presence of these stocks in day-to-day American life is to walk through a typical day in a typical American family's existence and see how many of these companies they come into contact with, directly or indirectly. Trying this little experiment, I was astonished to discover that it's completely within the realm of possibility to include all thirty without any too far-fetched scenarios.

Let's follow Miles T. Go, a businessman who travels regularly, through a day in the life and track the number of Dow companies he comes into contact with.

Before Miles even makes it to the breakfast table, he's scratched six of the thirty companies off of our list. After his alarm goes off, Miles rolls over, switches on his night stand light -- bulb courtesy of General Electric) -- and turns on the television (which he bought at Sears) to catch the news and weather on his local ABC station (Disney).

Still suffering from last night's late meeting, Miles downs a couple of Tylenol (Johnson & Johnson) and his prescription Pepcid (Merck) for his chronic acid reflux condition. Then a quick shower and shave, brushing his teeth with Crest and rinsing with Scope (both from Procter & Gamble). Nothing so far, I think you'll agree, that's at all out of the ordinary.

After breakfast, Miles stops in his home office to check his e-mail and final plans before heading to the airport. He switches on his home computer (an IBM lap-top), checks his messages and prints out the new itinerary for his upcoming meeting (Hewlett-Packard printer and paper from International Paper). He writes himself a note to call his boss from New York on a Post-It note (Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing), packs up his briefcase, kisses his wife and kids, and heads to the airport.

On the way, he notices that his car, a Buick Park Avenue (General Motors with Goodyear Tires) is low on fuel and stops in at the corner Chevron station. (Incidentally, one of the components in his antifreeze is manufactured by Union Carbide.)

At the airport (which was built using Caterpillar machinery), Miles picks up his ticket, paying with his credit card (from Travelers Group), stops in the newsstand to pick up some film for his camera (Eastman Kodak) so he can bring pictures of the project back to his supervisor, and makes a call to his company's main office (using his AT&T calling card).

His flight is on a Boeing jet, powered by an engine manufactured by AlliedSignal. In flight, he drinks a Coca-Cola, served in an aluminum can (courtesy of Alcoa).

When Miles arrives in New York, he picks up his rental car, and heads to corporate headquarters for his meeting. When he arrives, he parks in the building's garage and takes the elevator (United Technologies) up to the ninth floor and into his meeting.

After his meeting adjourns, Miles checks into his hotel, grabs a Big Mac (McDonald's), drops off some financial paperwork at the bank (J.P. Morgan) and goes shopping for some gifts for his children, paying for them with American Express Travelers Cheques.

Later that evening, he plays tennis with a colleague, using a racket containing Kevlar (from DuPont) and then relaxes with his buddy in the lounge, drinking a Miller beer (Philip Morris).

The next morning, after a quick meeting, he gasses up the rental car at an Exxon station before returning to the airport, and then flies home. On his way back to his home, he drops off the film he shot during the meetings at Wal-Mart. There you have it. Roughly twenty-four hours, all thirty Dow stocks, some more directly than others. And nothing so far-fetched we'd have to suspend our disbelief about.

In other words, the roots of these stocks cover the whole garden. I approached this maze one way, trying to include all thirty stocks in a single day, but I defy you to approach it the other way. Try to imagine a single day in which you could avoid every single one of the thirty companies. I doubt it can be done in America. In other words, these stocks really are ubiquitous and a terrific place to begin looking for the backbone of your investment portfolio.

(c) Copyright 1997, The Motley Fool. All rights reserved. This material is for personal use only. Republication and redissemination, including posting to news groups, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of The Motley Fool. ________________________________

Stock  Change   Last
--------------------
T    -   3/8   36.00
GM   +   9/16  56.94
CHV  +   1/16  75.50
MMM  +   1/4   101.00

                Day   Month    Year
        FOOL-4   -0.08%   1.55%   3.75%
        DJIA     +0.95%   1.49%  20.89%
        S&P 500  +1.46%   2.13%  22.05%
        NASDAQ   +1.21%   0.94%  12.75%

    Rec'd   #  Security     In At       Now    Change
   1/2/97  120 3M            83.00    101.00    21.69%
   1/2/97  153 Chevron       65.00     75.50    16.15%
   1/2/97  179 Gen. Motor    55.75     56.94     2.13%
   1/2/97  479 AT&T          41.75     36.00   -13.77%


    Rec'd   #  Security     In At     Value    Change
   1/2/97  120 3M          9960.00  12120.00  $2160.00
   1/2/97  153 Chevron     9945.00  11551.50  $1606.50
   1/2/97  179 Gen. Motor  9979.25  10191.81   $212.56
   1/2/97  479 AT&T       19998.25  17244.00 -$2754.25


                             CASH    $767.60
                            TOTAL  $51874.91