DAVE HARRIS: Welcome to Dave On Stocks, podcast #65. It's Thursday July 12^th 2007. I'm Dave Harris. I'm a long term private investor with a perspective on the market and individual stock advice.

A record close for both the DOW and S&P 500 today after some major retailers exceed views. The DOW rose 283.86 points to close at 13,861.73, that's the biggest gain in almost 4 years. The S&P was 28.94 points higher at 1,547.70. The brightest spot was Wal-Mart (WMT) and I think that contributed to the market rise today. In June, same store sales rose 2.4 percent. Most were expecting only .8 percent. For the second quarter, Wal-Mart said EPS would be in the range of .75 and .79 cents. That's in line with estimates. Wal-Mart is looking good here. I say buy the stock. It's cheap with a P/E of only about 17 vs. the industry average of almost 22. Although J.C. Penny (JCP) reported a 1.5 percent decline in same store sales, those results beat the 4-5 percent loss expected. Target (TGT) posted a healthy 3.3 percent same store sales rise, generally in line with Wall Street and the company's own expectations. That stock is a buy here in my opinion. I think it's going to $75. Target gained 4.44 to close at $70.04.

Some of the losers today include woman's clothing store Bebe (BEBE), with a 5.4 percent decline in June same store sales. That was about twice as bad Wall Street expected. Macy's (M) said sales fell 2.7 percent. The second quarter outlook was reduced to around .20 - .30 cents per share from an earlier range of .35 - .45 cents. I think you should sell the stock of both of these companies. Bebe fell .14 cents to 15.62. Macy's lost 1.16 at 39.25 per share.

The M&A activity continues with Rio Tinto, the Australian mining company making a $38.1 billion bid for aluminum maker Alcan. That's well above Alcoa's $28 billion offer last May. Alcoa dropped their bid today. Many on Wall Street think a similar deal could be in the works to acquire Alcoa. Alcoa's shares gained 2.86 to close at 45.29.

In economic news, unemployment claims fell less than expected to 308,000, so the job market shows continued strength. The May trade balance widened to an expected $60.04 billion.

We have a true bull market in play. There's lots of optimism and the recent M&A activity has a big hand in all this positive momentum. I also foresee a lot of upside surprises as the 2^nd quarter earning season kicks off.

The ten year note fell 9/32 as the yield rose to 5.12%. The tech heavy NASDAQ rose 49.94 at 2,701.73.

That's all for today's show. I'm Dave Harris. Remember to write me with any questions or comments at the "contact us" link on this page. My website is www.daveonstocks.com. This is Dave On Stocks.