The SJC 25 Stock Report, May 6, 2012

Editor's Note – In this feature, we check on the health of the Fortune 500 Companies that have a presence in and near San Juan Capistrano.

Nasty is the operative word this week. 

The jobs report did us no favors, coming in at less-than-expected numbers, reports Bloomberg. That's less growth in jobs, with more people falling out of the labor market, indicating our tepid economic expansion wasn't so expansive after all. Nasty.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.43 percent, while the S&P 500 was down 2.43. But we hit some more impressive dips, if I can use the word "impressive" charitably.

Forget 52-week highs. We've got some 52-week lows to announce in ConocoPhillips and Radio Shack Corp. Nasty.

Some of ConocoPhillips' nasty fall is attributed to the company spinning off Phillips 66 as a separate, publicly traded company. Barrons had a story about how and why Phillips 66 isn't doing so well. But it looks like some investors are punishing ConocoPhillips (wonder if they'll change their name?) just the same.

Sales were up in April for Costco Wholesale Corp. 7 percent compared to April 2011, reported MarketWatch. You would never know that by the stock price. 

Sales were up by the same rate at Ross Stores Inc., said MarketWatch, and the stock did get a little bump, which is WAY more than we can say for most of our companies this week. 

Safeway Inc., parent owner of , has been going the wrong direction in recent weeks. It had its second week of -5 percent shrinkage.

Nasty.

Earnings Reports: Sempra Energy, parent of San Diego Gas & Electricreleased its earnings this week. Sales were down 7 percent, according to Fox Business. Blame the GAS part of the business.

Did I tell you it was a nasty week, especially for our little stocks that could (most of the time)?

Some News Briefs for You:

Wonder what former Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is doing lately? As this isn't a political or a military column, you might find it surprising to hear he's the latest member of the board at Starbucks Corp.

Bank of America Corp.'s stock has really struggled lately. Now comes news that it is planning to cut as many 400 jobs in its investment banking, commercial banking and corporate banking units, and less than 2,000 in non-U.S. wealth-management groups, as part of continued efforts to slash expenses, reported Fox Business.

Here's a completely random tidbit: The rose garland strewn on I'll Have Another, the Kentucky Derby winner, was not put together by an independent florist, according to Business First, but the floral experts at a Kroger Co. grocery store. Remember that next time you're in !

Holy Shamrock Shake – McDonald's Corp. will increase the number of limited-time offers of special menus items, according to The Street. Turns out, variety is the spice of life.

 Ticker 

  % Change

 on the Week 

  -6.18

– Financial data provided by Google Finance