By Jeff Reinke, Editorial Director, PD&D

"Despite the nearly 400-point plunge taken by the Dow yesterday, many of companies showed reasonable increases over the last week."

“Welcome to the party - come in and stay a while!” That seemed to be Wall Street’s reaction to President Obama’s stimulus plan announcements. Despite the nearly 400-point plunge taken by the Dow yesterday, many of the companies tracked on Product Design & Development’s Stock Index showed reasonable increases over the last week. In fact, the overall index rose nearly four points, from 1305.89 last week to 1309.75, as of this morning.

Looking at specific market segments:

• Aerospace registered the biggest hit, losing nearly 9 points. This was led by Northrup Grumman’s (NOC) $3.33 loss.
• Automotive is up nearly 3 points, led by gains from Toyota, Honda and tier-one supplier Federal-Mogul.
• The medical market came in nearly flat, as it is down $0.06 from a week ago.
• Industrial stocks rebounded nicely, registering a 5-point gain over last week.
• Consumer electronic stocks continued their roller coaster ride, registering a gain of more than seven points. In particular, Nintendo, Electronic Arts and Apple posted strong gains.

The biggest gains and losses:

• Military supplier and product designer Northrup Grumman is down $3.33.
• Toyota (TM) is up $2.76, Honda (HMC) $0.92 and Federal-Mogul (FDML) $0.57 from last week. Now holding a value of $6.49, Federal-Mogul has shown steady increases since sinking to a value of $3.90 on December 17.
• Implant producer Zimmer (ZMH) bucked medical trends in posting a $2.19 gain.
• Leading the industrial charge are Siemens (SI), which is up $4.83, as well as Ingersoll-Rand (IR) and Fanuc (FANUY), which are up $1.65 and $1.75, respectively.
• W.W. Grainger is down $2.46.
• Video game players must be looking to provide their own stimulus package, as Nintendo (NTDOY) stock rose $1.30 and Electronic Arts (ERTS) $1.75.
• Apple (AAPL) saw a week-to-week increase of $5.02, while Hewlett Packard (HPQ) came in with a $1.05 decrease from last week.