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MARKET COMMENT
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How has the turbulence of the last few months affected the pecking order of the world's largest companies? Pretty dramatically is the answer. The slide in technology stocks has taken its toll. Here are the current top 10 with their current market values and their position in the pecking order this May according to the FT 500 survey. There been some dramatic moves in the last six months. General Electric (NYSE: GE) has opened up a sizeable lead at the top. Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), the drugs giant, leaps into the number 3 spot courtesy of its recent purchase of Warner Lambert, and Merck (NYSE: MRK) sneaks into the top 10. Other big winners include Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), Citibank (NYSE: C) after its purchase of Associates First Capital, and the insurance giant American International (NYSE: AIG). But the losers are also intriguing. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) falls all the way from number 1 to number 5. Intel (NYSE: INTC) also drops down the list. Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) retains number 4 spot although for a brief time it was the largest company in the world. Just outside the top ten are Vodafone Group (LSE: VOD), Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and NTT DoCoMo, which occupied the number 3 spot in May. But there is then quite a big drop in market value to the likes of BP (LSE: BP.) and Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) in the next spots. Where Next? $b
1. (2) General Electric US 470
2. (8) Exxon Mobil US 296
3. (37) Pfizer US 293
4. (4) Cisco Systems US 263
5. (1) Microsoft US 221
6. (5) Wal-Mart Stores US 219
7. (17) Citibank US 216
8. (19) American Int'l US 216
9. (6) Intel Corp US 215
10.(20) Merck US 215
FT 500 survey
