A rocky week on Wall Street, in which the Dow Jones industrials slipped as Nasdaq soared, left most major area companies unscathed. Food companies, an important sector in the Chicago stock portfolio, suffered the most after a profit warning by Procter & Gamble hurt consumer products generally.
The stock price of Chicago-based Quaker Oats dropped 9.6 percent for the week to $46.69; shares of chewing gum-maker Wm. Wrigley Jr. lost 5.2 percent, finishing at $61.69–both 52-week closing lows.
The two biggest winners were Lisle-based electronic equipment maker Molex, where shares jumped 38 percent to $62.65, and Chicago-based phone service provider Focal Communications, up 18.6 percent, to a 52-week closing high of $57. Neither Molex nor Focal announced any news that would explain their rallies.
CHICAGO’S TOP 50
Based on market capitalization of public companies as of March 10, 2000.
%% RANKING COMPANY FRI. VALUE CHG.
3/10 3/3 CLOSE (MIL.) (MIL.)
1 1 Motorola 172.50 105,068 -1,713
2 2 Abbott Laboratories 30.94 47,092 -2,283
3 3 McDonald’s 31.75 42,990 -761
4 4 Bank One 24.62 28,241 -431
5 5 Walgreen 24.50 24,652 -20
6 6 Tellabs 57.00 22,929 1,031
7 8 Baxter Intl. 56.06 16,656 -167
8 9 Illinois Tool Works 54.37 16,338 -226
9 7 Household Intl. 32.75 15,397 -1,821
10 13 Molex 62.67 15,363 4,234
11 10 Allstate 17.94 14,446 -1,158
12 11 Sara Lee 14.56 12,937 0
13 12 Northern Trust 52.31 11,644 -1,043
14 14 Sears Roebuck 27.75 10,488 -118
15 15 Tribune 37.19 8,836 59
16 16 Unicom 37.56 8,167 -95
17 20 Comdisco 53.00 8,097 1,413
18 17 Wm. Wrigley Jr. 61.69 7,169 -392
19 18 Tele. & Data Sys. 106.00 6,546 -586
20 19 Quaker Oats 46.69 6,203 -656
21 21 Equity Office Prop. Tr. 24.56 6,193 47
22 24 U.S. Cellular 69.00 6,040 99
23 22 Aon 21.56 5,533 -578
24 23 Aerial Comm. 52.69 4,990 -1,037
25 25 Equity Res. Prop. Tr. 39.37 4,977 -87
26 26 CNA Financial 26.06 4,805 -150
27 27 Fort James 19.00 4,111 257
28 30 ServiceMaster 11.94 3,706 -19
29 29 W.W. Grainger 39.62 3,700 -87
30 28 Fortune Brands 22.25 3,650 -144
31 32 Focal Communications 57.00 3,457 542
32 31 Smurfit-Stone Cont. 14.69 3,196 -28
33 33 Whittman-Hart 49.00 2,773 -106
34 35 CDW Computer Ctrs. 63.81 2,757 116
35 34 UAL 47.19 2,396 -303
36 36 R.R. Donnelley 19.12 2,356 -236
37 37 Unitrin 32.97 2,340 95
38 40 Andrew 28.56 2,300 85
39 49 Diamond Tech. Partners 99.75 2,123 528
40 39 Navistar 33.50 2,082 -148
41 41 Keebler Foods 24.87 2,081 -73
42 38 Methode Electronics 57.00 2,051 -183
43 44 Allscripts 84.12 2,031 148
44 42 Zebra Technologies 62.94 1,970 -118
45 45 True North Comm. 40.00 1,928 49
46 47 NiSource 14.69 1,836 172
47 43 Heller Financial 18.25 1,771 -231
48 46 Galileo Intl. 18.94 1,713 23
49 48 USG 32.12 1,588 -37
50 54 GATX 31.12 1,529 39
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