general electric

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the Canada Day holiday, our next Hotline will go out on Thursday, June 30, 2016.

WAL-MART STORES INC., $71.96, New York symbol WMT, is the world’s largest retailer, with 11,500 stores in 28 countries.

The company has formed a new alliance with Chinese online retailer JD.com (Nasdaq symbol JD).

Under the terms of the deal, JD.com will acquire Yihaodian—Wal-Mart’s shopping website in China....

GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. $31 (New York symbol GE; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 9.2 billion; Market cap: $285.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.ge.com) has completed the sale of its appliance division, which makes refrigerators, ovens and washing machines, to China’s Haier Co....

STATE STREET CORP. $58 (New York symbol STT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 395.9 million; Market cap: $23.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; Dividend yield: 2.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.statestreet.com) sells accounting and administrative services to large institutional investors such as mutual funds and pension plans....

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC. $62 (Nasdaq symbol TXN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 1.0 billion; Market cap: $62.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.9; Dividend yield: 2.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.ti.com) mainly makes analog chips, which convert inputs like touch, sound and pressure into electronic signals that computers can understand....

These two firms provide specialized services to banks and other large financial institutions. Long-term relationships with their clients make it difficult for new competitors to enter either of these markets. However, we see State Street as the better choice for new buying....

BANK OF MONTREAL, $83.44, Toronto symbol BMO, gained 1% this week after announcing it will raise its dividend. The bank also said it’s setting aside more funds to cover potential bad loans to Canadian oil and gas firms; and with more of its customers banking online, it will cut 4% of its workforce. In its fiscal 2016 second quarter, which ended April 30, 2016, Bank of Montreal earned $1.152 billion. That’s a gain of 0.5% over $1.146 billion a year earlier. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 1.2%, to $1.73 from $1.71. These figures exclude severance payments and other unusual items. On that basis, the latest earnings missed the consensus estimate of $1.75 a share....

MONSANTO CORP., $99.94, New York symbol MON, develops and sells technology-based agricultural products, such as genetically modified seeds, to farmers, grain processors and food companies. It also sells weed- and pest-control products. The stock jumped 11% this week on speculation that German chemical and pharmaceutical maker Bayer AG may launch a takeover bid for the company. A merger would help both firms compete with rivals Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont Co, which plan to merge later this year. As well, China National Chemical Corp. agreed in February 2016 to acquire Switzerland-based Syngenta AG....

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) give you a low-cost, flexible alternative to mutual funds. Here are five ETFs we recommend and one to sell.

SPDR S&P 500 ETF $205.01 (New York symbol SPY; buy or sell through brokers; www.spdrs.com) holds the stocks in the S&P 500 Index, which consists of 500 major U.S. companies chosen based on their market cap, liquidity and industry group. The index’s highest-weighted stocks are Apple, ExxonMobil, Microsoft, Facebook, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan Chase, AT&T, General Electric, Berkshire Hathaway and Wells Fargo. The fund’s MER is just 0.11%, and it yields 2.1%. SPDR S&P 500 ETF is a top ETF pick for 2016.

These six ETFs hold mostly blue chip, widely traded stocks on Canadian and U.S. exchanges. All of them mirror, or track, the performance of major stock market indexes. That’s opposed to narrower indexes focused on, say, resources or themes such as solar power or biotech. Of course, you pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell these ETFs. But their low management fees give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds. Below we update our advice on all six—five buys and one we don’t recommend....