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The mini losing streak is officially over. After three straight days of losses, all three indices fired back yesterday. Each was up between 1 and 2%. The Dow gained gained 124 points and finished at 9789. The S&P 500 gained 18.60 and finished at 1062. Finally, the NASDAQ gained 39.82 and finished at 2130.74. All three are now near highs for the year again. September is looking to be a very strong month despite the "conventional wisdom" at the beginning of the month.

The markets are in a mini losing streak. The three major indices have lost for three straight days, and we'd better have an up day soon or the pundits and analysts may panic. Futures are pointing marginally this morning. All three indices are currently up slightly more than half a percent. They are riding a "wave of merger and acquisition activity" to higher opening this morning. Xerox is buying Affiliated Computer Services, Belgian drug manufacturer Solvay is buying a unit of Abbott, Johnson and Johnson is buying an 18% stake in Crucell a Dutch biotech firm, and there are reports...

A former Kraft Foods purchasing manager was sentenced to two years and three months in prison Tuesday for taking $158,000 in bribes from a broker for a Central California tomato processor, the first prison term imposed in a federal investigation of corruption in tomato products sales. Robert Watson, 59, of White Plains, N.Y., pleaded guilty in January to defrauding his company by accepting the bribes between January 2004 and April 2008 from Randall Rahal, then a sales broker for SK Foods of Lemoore (Kings County). In exchange, prosecutors said, Watson made sure that Kraft bought processed tomato products and other...

Unlike its iconic American counterpart, the Oreo sold in China is frequently long, thin, four-layered and coated in chocolate. But both kinds of cookies have one important thing in common: They are now best sellers. The Oreo has long been the top-selling cookie in the U.S. market. But Kraft Foods had to reinvent the Oreo to make it sell well in the world's most populous nation. While Chinese Oreo sales represent a tiny fraction of Kraft's $37.2 billion in annual revenue, the cookie's journey in China exemplifies the kind of entrepreneurial transformation that CEO Irene Rosenfeld is trying to spread...

Guacamole lawsuit: Where's the avocado? The Associated Press November 30, 2006, 8:24 AM EST LOS ANGELES -- Wholly guacamole? That's the issue in a fraud lawsuit filed Wednesday against Kraft Foods, Inc., by a Los Angeles woman who claims the company's avocado dip doesn't qualify as guacamole. "It just didn't taste avocadoey," said Brenda Lifsey, who used Kraft Dips Guacamole in a three-layer dip last year. "I looked at the ingredients and found there was almost no avocado in it." She is seeking unspecified damages and a Superior Court order barring Kraft from calling its dip guacamole.

Few people realize that, until just recently, Mayonaize was considered a delicacy South or the Border. At the turn of the century, Mexico had no means to preserve the spread, therefore all mayonaize was shipped to the state in the refrigerated holds of cargo- and passenger-liners. The President of Mexico loved Mayonaize so much, that he used state funds to purchase just over 14,000 pounds of the condiment, thereby giving every household in Mexico an opportunity to at least sample the stuff. The shipment was scheduled for delivery at the end of April, 1912. The entire Mexican nation waited in...

STOCKHOLDER PROPOSAL DISSOCIATION FROM THE 2006 AND ALL FUTURE SO-CALLED "GAY GAMES" Marcella V. Meyer, M.D., M.P.H, 10416 South Bell Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60043, claiming beneficial ownership of 200 shares of common stock, submitted the proposal set forth below. RESOLVED: That in the best interest of our company Kraft Foods Inc. as well as in the public interest, Kraft Foods does hereby disassociate itself from the 2006 and all future so-called "gay games", and that no future financial support be given for the 2006 "gay games" or any other future activities supporting, proselytizing, promoting or encouraging homosexual activity or life...

This year the Seventh "Gay Games" -- an Olympic-style event with an unusual twist -- will be held in Chicago July 15-22. However, a leading corporate sponsor of the games may have gotten into a public relations nightmare that won’t go away. The other day I received three emails from the brokerage firm where I maintain three investment accounts: one a fund to keep me from starving in my “golden years,” and the other two set up to provide a college fund for two of our grandsons.The purpose of these emails was to notify me that Kraft Foods, Inc., of which I...

Kraft Recipes on Your iPod By Enid Burns | August 19, 2005 A new marketing application from Kraft is leveraging the iPod phenomenon in a way that goes beyond podcasting (define). Owners of the ubiquitous device who download the company's "Greatest Hits of Summer" widget can carry a library of over 100 Kraft-inspired recipes with them wherever they go. The download, promoted at kraftfoods.com, offers grilling ideas, desserts, and additional recipes featuring Kraft ingredients. Users can browse recipes using the iPod's scroll wheel and look up ingredients while at the grocery store. "Because Kraft consumers have busy lives and demanding...

Patriots owner says Super Bowl ring was gift to Putin The Associated Press June 29. 2005 6:04PM New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said the 2005 Super Bowl Ring he handed to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday was a gift. "I showed the president my most recent Super Bowl ring," Kraft said in a statement released Wednesday. The Russian president "was clearly taken with its uniqueness," Kraft said. "At that point, I decided to give him the ring as a symbol of the respect and admiration that I have for the Russian people and the leadership of President Putin,"...

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- Was it a big misunderstanding, or simply a generous gift when Russian President Vladimir Putin made off with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft's Super Bowl ring? Following a meeting of American business executives and Putin at Konstantinovsky Palace near St. Petersburg last Saturday, according to Russian news reports, Kraft showed his 4.94-carat, diamond-encrusted 2005 Super Bowl ring to the Russian president, who tried it on, then put it in his pocket and left. It was not immediately clear whether Kraft, whose business interests also include paper and packaging companies and venture capital investments, intended for...

MELBOURNE'S Jewish community are unhappy little Vegemites. After 20 years of producing it, Kraft has scrapped kosher Vegemite. Hundreds of families have been scouring supermarkets for the last kosher jars of the famous spread. One mum bought 75 jars in one shop. Jewish kosher certification group Kosher Australia has received at least five complaints a day since Kraft confirmed the end of production a few months ago. KA general manager Yankel Wajsbort said Kraft had been producing kosher Vegemite for at least 20 years. Mr Wajsbort said batches of kosher Vegemite had been made at Kraft after processing machines were...

FREEP KRAFT You will hear the keys clicking as the operator that takes your call records your comments about what you think of these multi-million dollar bonuses amid layoffs for thousands of workers. Call them. Tell them you just heard about the bonuses for their execs and the layoffs for thousands of workers and that you will not be buying their products anymore. HERE IS THE LINK TO THE KRAFT WEBSITE FOR FORM SUBMISSION. If you require immediate assistance or would like to speak to a representative from Kraft Foods, please call us at 1-800-323-0768 with questions about our products...

<p>Food maker has to lay off 6,000 workers and close 20 plants, but execs still got paid big bonuses.</p> <p>CHICAGO (Reuters) - Bonuses totaling more than $10 million were paid out to five Kraft Foods Inc. executives at the end of 2003, even as the giant food maker made plans to lay off thousands of workers.</p>

Analysts also talk of plant closings Kraft Foods Inc. is expected to announce thousands of job cuts early next week as part of Chief Executive Roger Deromedi's plan to cut costs and put more muscle into marketing. In research notes to clients, Wall Street analysts said Thursday that they expect Deromedi to reveal job cuts of up to 10 percent of its North American workforce and plant closures when he discusses fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday. The Northfield-based company is expected to report earnings of 50 cents per share, down a cent from a year earlier, according to analysts' consensus estimates from...

January 15, 2004 Lobbyist: Corporation Provides Air Travel For Richardson By Barry MasseyThe Associated Press        SANTA FE   —   A subsidiary of a tobacco and food conglomerate paid nearly $17,000 for air travel by Gov. Bill Richardson and several of his aides on an out-of-state trip last year.     The travel was reported by a lobbyist for Altria Corporate Services Inc., a subsidiary of Altria Group Inc.   —   the New York-based parent of the world's largest cigarette company, Philip Morris.     The company provided travel to Washington and Chicago in late September on "corporate aircraft" for...

July 12, 2003 Arnold N. Nawrocki, Cheese Innovator, Dies at 78By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS rnold N. Nawrocki, the man who made it practical to sell individually wrapped slices of cheese in the 1950's, died on June 30 at his home in Sun City, Ariz. He was 78. The cause was complications of kidney disease, his family said. Mr. Nawrocki first tried to wrap slices of cheese with wax paper before finding a profitable way to do it with cellophane while working at the Clearfield Cheese Company in Curwensville, Pa., in the 1950's. Wrapping the cheese — which required a...

With trial lawyers snuffling, "food police" threatening, and the Health and Human Services Secretary preaching, it's no wonder that Kraft Foods felt the pressure and unveiled its global healthy foods campaign on July 1. Kraft, the second-largest food company in the world with instant brand recognition for its Kraft cheeses, Nabisco cookies and crackers, Oscar Meyer meats, Post cereals, and Philadelphia cream cheese, announced a global plan to do its part in combating obesity. Their strategy is a combination of reducing portion sizes, putting even more information on labels, restricting its marketing, and educating consumers about healthy living. Oh, and...