Dow

A California district attorney reposted on social media 9/11 images along with comments blasting the election of Zohran Mamdani as New York City’s first Muslim mayor. Despite the gory images and strong denunciation of Mamdani, Dan Dow insists that he has no issues with the Muslim community in San Luis Obispo County, where he is the top prosecutor.

He has “strong ties” with the community, Dow said in an emailed statement Thursday to The Times.

But his posts have drawn backlash, and a Muslim advocacy organization is demanding an apology and an investigation.

On Wednesday, Dow retweeted a post on X from a popular right-wing account that appeared to show a snapshot moments after flames jutted from the South Tower, the second of the twin towers struck by a plane on Sept. 11, 2001.

A second visual tweet, more graphic than the first, displayed footage from two angles of a plane barreling into one of the towers. That was posted by the leader of an activist organization, described as a hate group by some, that claims to “combat the threats from Islamic supremacists, radical leftists and their allies.”

Each was posted in the aftermath of the New York City mayoral election won by 34-year-old, self-described democratic socialist Mamdani.

The posts were retweeted and subtweeted days later and 3,000 miles away by Dow, drawing rebuke from some locals, in a story first broken by the San Luis Obispo Tribune.

Dow responded to a Times email for comment saying his issue was not with the county’s Muslim population, which numbers around 500, according to the Assn. of Religion Data Archives.

“I shared the posts because, in my opinion, Mamdani is going to destroy New York being a self-proclaimed socialist,” Dow responded. “I support the Muslim community and have strong ties to our Muslim community in San Luis Obispo.”

The first post Dow retweeted came from the account @EndWokeness, which vows to its nearly 4 million followers that it’s “fighting, exposing, and mocking wokeness.”

The second post came from Amy Mekelburg, founder of Rise, Align, Ignite and Reclaim (RAIR) Foundation, which is listed as a hate organization by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The council’s Los Angeles office demanded Thursday evening that Dow apologize and “retract his recent anti-Muslim social media posts.” CAIR-LA is also asking for an independent investigation into Dow’s conduct and “his fitness to continue to serve as DA.”

The organization is incensed at his retweeting of Mekelburg, whom they describe as “a known anti-Muslim extremist.”

Mekelburg wrote a sizable message on the video post, saying she’d “given my entire self” to warn the world “about the threat of Islam after 9/11.”

“And now … to see New York — my city — stand in this moment, where someone like Zohran Mamdani could even be elected,” she wrote. “My God, New York, what have you done?”

CAIR-LA said that Mekelburg “falsely equated the election of Mamdani with 9/11, reinforcing the harmful stereotype that Muslims are inherently tied to terrorism simply because of their faith.”

Dow subtweeted that specific post with a message that began by highlighting his 32 years of service in the U.S. Army and his four tours overseas.

“I remember like it was yesterday our nation being attacked by Islamic extremists on 9/11/2001,” he wrote. “I love this country and I do not in any way share the same views as the 33-year-old socialist Zohran Mamdani.”

He added in the tweet: “I am very sad to see the Big Apple torn apart by electing an un-American socialist who wants to trample on the values and freedoms that millions of Americans have fought and died for.”

“Dow’s decision to repost content that weaponizes bigotry and baselessly ties an elected Muslim official to terrorism is appalling and reflects the deeply rooted dehumanization and fearmongering in this country that American Muslims have had to endure for decades,” CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush said in a statement.

Dow’s posts also struck a nerve with one of his Muslim allies in San Luis Obispo, Dr. Rushdi Cader, who referred to the district attorney as “a personal friend” to the San Luis Obispo Tribune.

Cader told the Tribune the posts were “highly incendiary and puts Muslims at risk for harm, especially hijab-wearing Muslim women like my wife Nisha, whom Dan has himself described as ‘a kind and gentle lady’ who he ‘prayed would be blessed with peace.’”

Cader added he thought Dow’s “ugly post” was borne “out of disagreement with Mamdani’s politics” rather than any direct attack on Islam.”

Dow’s tweets drew other rebukes.

San Luis Obispo County Second District Supervisor Bruce Gibson called Dow a “Christian nationalist.”

He “occupies a powerful public office that requires decency and discipline,” Gibson said of Dow. “This post is yet another example that he has neither.”

San Luis Obispo Mayor Erica Stewart emailed The Times to say that the city was welcoming to all community members.

“Dan Dow, as the county’s District Attorney, by definition, should be objective and fair,” she wrote. “For someone in his position to express racism is unacceptable.”

Dow had his defenders too.

Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer serves with Dow on the California District Attorneys Assn. Spitzer is the organization’s secretary-treasurer while Dow is the president.

Spitzer found no fault with Dow’s social media posts.

“Elected officials have a platform to share their views and be judged by their constituents,” he wrote in an email. “It is heartbreaking to see someone who has expressed such anti-public safety and anti-Semitic sentiments elected as mayor of New York, and we as the elected protectors of public safety have a right to express that.”

As companies mature, they often choose to implement a dividend as a way to directly reward shareholders. On the other hand, smaller up-and-coming companies will want to put all the dry powder possible into their ideas to make them succeed.

Coca-Cola (KO -0.52%), Procter & Gamble (PG 0.23%), and Sherwin-Williams (SHW 0.58%) are three industry-leading companies that have been around for over 100 years. Their track records have earned them spots among the 30 components in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.65%).

Dividends have been an integral part of their capital allocation plans for decades. And because all three companies have steadily grown their earnings over time, they have also been able to increase their quarterly dividends.

Investing $15,000 into each stock could help you generate over $1,000 in passive dividend income per year. Here’s why all three dividend stocks are great buys in October.

Image source: Getty Images.

This beverage behemoth is also a passive income powerhouse

Coca-Cola was one of the few stocks that held up when the market was tanking in response to tariff woes and geopolitical uncertainty in April. That same month, it hit an all-time high. But since then, Coke has been steadily falling while the S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.59%) has been gaining. And after a hot start to the year, Coke is now underperforming the Dow and the S&P 500.

^SPX data by YCharts

Coke’s fundamentals remain intact. The company is generating solid organic growth and diversifying its beverage lineup by leaning into healthier options. Coca-Cola Zero Sugar and Diet Coke are performing well, and Coke is shifting from high-fructose corn syrup to cane sugar in the U.S.

Coke has the beverage lineup, supply chain (through its bottling partnerships), and brand power to adapt to changing consumer preferences. In the meantime, the stock has gotten much cheaper, sporting a 23.6 price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio compared to a 10-year median P/E of 27.7.

Coke yields 3.1%, making it a solid source of passive income. And it has raised its dividend for 63 consecutive years, earning it a coveted spot on the list of Dividend Kings.

P&G is a great value for long-term investors

P&G is in a similar boat to Coke. It has great brands, but consumers are getting hit hard by inflation and cost-of-living pressures.

In June, P&G announced plans to cut 7,000 jobs and exit certain brands and markets as part of a restructuring effort. In July, it announced that its chief operating officer, Shailesh Jejurikar, would take over as CEO on Jan. 1, 2026. These major shakeups, paired with relatively weak results and guidance, may be why P&G is hovering around a 52-week low at the time of this writing.

P&G has essentially three levers it can pull to grow its earnings. It can sell higher volumes of products, it can raise prices, and it can repurchase stock, which increases earnings per share. Volume growth is the most sustainable option because it has fewer limits compared to price increases, which are subject to consumer constraints. And there’s only so much free cash flow P&G generates to buy back its stock (it usually reduces its share count by 1% to 2% per year).

Unfortunately, P&G has been relying heavily on price increases in recent years. And consumers are pushing back, as P&G’s organic growth has drastically slowed.

PG data by YCharts

P&G now sports a P/E ratio of 23.4 and a forward P/E of 21.8 compared to a 10-year median P/E of 25.5. Like Coke, P&G is a Dividend King with a high yield at 2.8%. It’s a great buy for risk-averse investors looking for a reliable source of passive income who don’t mind giving the company time to restructure.

Sherwin-Williams’ recent pullback is a buying opportunity

The paint and coatings giant had been a steady market outperformer to the point where it earned its spot in the Dow last year, replacing commodity chemical giant Dow Inc. But Sherwin-Williams’ stock has underperformed the major indexes this year largely due to high interest rates, which are impacting many of its end markets.

Sherwin-Williams benefits from increases in consumer spending and economic growth. Higher borrowing costs have been a drag on the housing market and home improvement projects, as evidenced by Home Depot‘s lackluster earnings growth over the last couple of years.

Still, Sherwin-Williams has the makings of an excellent dividend stock for long-term investors. It has 46 consecutive years of dividend raises, but its yield is just 0.9% because the stock price has outpaced its dividend growth rate — gaining 352% over the last decade, which is even better than the S&P 500’s 244% increase.

Sherwin-Williams has an excellent business model. It sells its products through its own retail stores, online, and partnerships with retailers like Lowe’s Companies. It also has a sizable coatings business and industrial and commercial paints business. Coatings are used to protect surfaces across various industries, including automotive, aerospace, and marine.

Add it all up, and Sherwin-Williams is a great buy in October.

Quality companies at attractive valuations

Coke, P&G, and Sherwin-Williams may not light up a growth investor’s radar screen. But all three companies pay growing, ultra-reliable dividends.

Coke and P&G have discounted valuations compared to their historical averages, whereas Sherwin-Williams is roughly in line with its 10-year median valuation.

Add it all up and these are three picks ideally suited for investors looking to round out their portfolios with non-tech-focused ideas.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 1.36%) moved 3.2% higher in August, with five of its 30 constituent stocks rallying over 10% each. While the laggards didn’t decline as sharply, the fall in two of the three worst-performing Dow stocks of August was hard to justify.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Microsoft: Down 5%

Shares of Microsoft (MSFT 0.20%) fell 5% last month because investors booked profits after the tech stock soared to all-time highs of $555.45 on July 31, and its market capitalization briefly surpassed $4 trillion for the first time ever.

On July 31, Microsoft posted 18% revenue and 24% net income growth for its fourth quarter, driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing. Its cloud computing unit Azure logged the biggest revenue jump of 39% among all products. Microsoft projects double-digit growth in revenue and operating income for fiscal year 2026 (ending June 30, 2026).

2. Caterpillar: Down 4%

Shares of Caterpillar (CAT 2.04%) hit all-time highs of $441.15 on July 31. But unlike Microsoft, Caterpillar’s numbers sent the stock 4.3% lower in August.

Caterpillar’s second-quarter revenue declined 1%, and earnings per share slumped 16% year over year on unfavorable pricing. Although the construction and mining equipment giant expects higher revenue in 2025, it sees tariffs as a significant headwind to profitability. It projects free cash flow from its machinery, energy, and transportation businesses to be around $7.5 billion in 2025, versus $9.4 billion last year.

3. International Business Machines: Down 3.8%

International Business Machines (IBM 0.06%) stock dropped sharply on July 24 after releasing Q2 numbers and continued to fall through August, losing 3.8% in the month. Ironically, IBM’s revenue rose 8% year over year, and management now expects 2025 free cash flow to exceed its guidance of $13.5 billion, driven by growth in software.

Software alone made up 43% of IBM’s revenue in Q2. Last year, IBM generated $12.7 billion in FCF.

IBM shares fell because its software revenue growth missed analysts’ estimates. Investors know better, though, as the tech stock has recovered 5.5% this month, as of this writing.

Beaten-down chemical industry stock Dow (DOW -2.27%) absorbed another body blow on Monday. Investors traded out of the company’s shares, on the back of an analyst’s bearish adjustment, to the point where they closed the day more than 2% lower in value. In contrast, the S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.21%) ended up rising by 0.2%.

A cut to the chemical giant

The pundit behind the move was Jefferies‘ Laurence Alexander. Well before market open that day, he reduced his Dow price target to $23 per share from his preceding $28. He maintained his hold recommendation on the shares in the process.

Image source: Getty Images.

Alexander’s new take on Dow was due to several factors, including the company’s lingering supply chain woes, according to reports. The analyst also wrote that there was a risk that a potential interest rate cut would take some time to result in increased demand for the company’s wares.

On the spending side, Alexander opined that with such ongoing pressures, Dow management will be compelled to continue reining in capital expenditures. This, plus anticipated restructuring measures in 2026 and the following year, are likely to affect the company’s fundamentals negatively.

Not a good time for the industry

Dow, a long-standing incumbent in the chemical sector, is a highly unfavored stock these days. Over the summer, the company cut its quarterly dividend in half; as this payout was a major draw pulling people into the stock, many investors sold on the news.

Globally, the industry is in a significant down cycle, in many ways still adjusting from oversupply at the start of this decade. The tariff policy of the current presidential administration isn’t helping sentiment, either.

Given all that, Alexander’s cautious move feels entirely justified.

August 2025 was a big month for a handful of stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. While the index, which tracks 30 of the most influential publicly traded companies in the U.S., was up 3.8% on the month, there were some outliers that drove the component’s overall performance even higher.

Here are the five companies that led the way in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and why they led the charge.

UNH data by YCharts.

UnitedHealth Group: Up 30.3%

UnitedHealth Group (UNH 1.53%) stock has been a disappointment in 2025, down 50% heading into August. But it made a massive turnaround on a couple of key investments.

First, Berkshire Hathaway, led by famed CEO Warren Buffett, disclosed a $1.5 billion position in UnitedHealth, pocketing 5.04 million shares. It was a big move for Berkshire, which also operates an insurance company in GEICO, and signaled to investors that the beaten-down insurer was ripe for the picking.

Second, investor Michael Burry disclosed his own investment through his Scion Asset Management hedge fund. Burry, who’s best known for his bet against the housing market that was dramatized in The Big Short, disclosed that Scion bought 20,000 shares of UnitedHealth stock and another 350,000 call options.

The company’s second-quarter earnings were also solid, with revenue of $111.6 billion up $12.8 billion from a year ago. UnitedHealth issued full-year guidance for revenue between $344 billion and $345.5 billion, which would be up 15% from 2024.

Apple: Up 14.7%

Buffett’s cash to fund his UnitedHealth purchase came from his sale of Apple (AAPL -0.16%) stock. The Oracle of Omaha trimmed Berkshire’s stake by 20 million shares. But Apple had some other positive things going for it, so it still had a very good August.

First, Apple had a better-than-expected earnings report. Financials for its fiscal 2025’s third quarter (ended June 28) showed revenue of $94 billion, up 10% from a year ago. Earnings per share totaled $1.57, which was a 12% increase from last year.

Apple badly needed a quarter like that because the company’s revenue has been flat since 2023. While some investors were expecting more of the same, Apple was able to report double-digit growth in its iPhone, Mac, and Services segments.

American Express: Up 12.6%

American Express (AXP -1.30%) is a credit card company that has distinct advantages over competitors Mastercard and Visa. While it has a smaller market share, American Express caters to corporate accounts and affluent customers who crave the American Express gold or platinum card perks.

In addition, the company operates its own payment network and extends loans, giving it another income stream from the interest charged.

Although there remains some concern about the strength of the economy, American Express reported revenue that was up 9% in the second quarter to $17.8 billion. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $4.08, up 17% from the second quarter of 2024.

American Express isn’t sitting on its laurels, though. CEO Steve Squeri indicated that the company is looking to upgrade its Platinum card in an effort to draw Generation Z and millennial customers.

Amazon: Up 6.6%

Amazon (AMZN -1.46%) has multiple growth engines with its lucrative Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing segment and its powerful e-commerce division. Both had good news to report in August, pushing Amazon shares higher.

First, the company’s second-quarter results showed strong performance from AWS, with revenue in the segment coming in at $30.87 billion and operating income of $10.16 billion. AWS is by far most profitable segment for Amazon, and its cloud computing division is essential for companies that are looking to operate artificial intelligence-infused programs without spending massive amounts of money to create their own data centers.

Image source: Getty Images.

Amazon also is seeing greater success with advertising. Its advertising-services segment brought in $15.69 billion in the second quarter, up 23% from the previous year.

Finally, the company’s Amazon Prime Day shopping event in July brought in billions. The company said it was the biggest Prime Day event in its history. While Amazon didn’t release sales figures yet, Adobe Analytics projected $23.8 billion in overall sales from the three-day event.

Home Depot: Up 8.8%

Home Depot (HD 1.69%) had a good August after reporting solid earnings of its own. As home sales are struggling in 2025, more people seem to be putting work into their existing properties, according to CEO Ted Decker, who cited “smaller home improvement projects” as driving the company’s successful quarter.

Home Depot said it saw sales of $45.3 billion in the second quarter, up 4.9% from a year ago. Adjusted earnings per share of $4.68 were $0.01 per share higher than a year ago. The home-improvement retailer reaffirmed its 2025 guidance for sales growth of 2.8%.

Near the end of July, storied chemical company Dow (DOW -1.68%) chopped its quarterly dividend in half from $0.70 per share to $0.35. To say investors weren’t happy about this would be understating the case; since then, Dow’s share price has fallen by almost 7% against the incremental rise of the S&P 500 (^GSPC -0.40%).

Dow is a longtime dividend player, and it’s refusing to give up on its payout entirely. Read on to find out the share count required to clock $1,000 worth of those lowered dividends yearly.

Why Dow is down

To cut directly to the chase, the answer is 715 shares. At the stock’s currently reduced price, that would mean a total spend of just under $16,824.

Image source: Getty Images.

A 50% dividend cut is hard to swallow, but this is mitigated by the resulting yield, which now stands at slightly under 6%. That’s extremely high for any stock on the exchange — all the more given Dow’s long history and prominence as a publicly traded company.

Yet this flags a high degree of risk. The chemical industry in general is struggling mightily, with weakening global demand and the lingering effects of oversupply that occurred near the start of the 2020s, among other factors.

Better times sorely needed

Dow’s slump is apparent, with second-quarter sales sliding by 7% year over year and the bottom line flipping to a non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) adjusted loss of $0.42 per share from the year-ago profit of $0.68. With that kind of showing, the company is in batten-down-the-hatches mode. Factories have been shut and capital expenditures lowered to shore up finances.

The question is: When will the industry recover? There’s only so many cost-savings measures a producer can implement; customer demand must bounce back. With so much uncertainty, it’s not clear when that might happen.

So with Dow, if you’re a believer in the chemical business changing course sooner than later, this is an irresistible buying opportunity. For anyone more doubtful, though, the stock might be better off avoided.

The 27-year-old has been in the wars this time around as well, breaking a bone in her hand.

However, a less serious injury, earlier in the season, means she feels part of a group expedition, rather than a rehabbing soloist, as she works towards a different outcome.

“It’s all fine and I’m very healthy right now,” she said.

“This time around, I’m able to connect with the team much better and climb that mountain with everyone.”

Mitchell has told his players that the priority in Mont-de-Marsan is performance, rather than extending their current winning streak to a 27th match.

After England trounced Spain at home last weekend, Dow is expecting a bracing evening in south-west France, one that will steel a near full-strength side for challenges to come.

“I love the French crowd. They’re here for the dramatics, they’re here for the entertainment,” she said.

“It’s really important for us that we don’t look to our left and right, and we look forward as a team.

“All these things that can be thrown at us are really important for us to grow and handle, because it means when things do get tougher, we’ll be able to handle them as well.”

If they slip up in France, it doesn’t mean they won’t reach the summit in September. It might actually help them do so.

WASHINGTON — President Trump sued Dow Jones and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, for libel on Friday, striking back against the publication of a bombshell story in the Wall Street Journal alleging the president sent a sordid letter to notorious sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein in the early 2000s.

The Journal, a Dow Jones publication, reported Thursday that Trump sent a raunchy 50th birthday card to Epstein that included a sketch of a naked woman, featuring breasts and a squiggly “Donald” signature mimicking pubic hair.

The paper said it had reviewed copies of a collection of lewd letters that Epstein’s longtime companion, Ghislaine Maxwell, gathered from Epstein’s friends and colleagues and compiled in an album to mark his 2003 birthday.

“We have just filed a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS ‘article’ in the useless ‘rag’ that is, The Wall Street Journal,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Friday, adding that the suit also targets Murdoch and the reporters on the story.

The suit comes amid renewed questions over the nature of Trump’s years-long friendship with Epstein, the late and disgraced financier whose sprawling sex trafficking ring victimized more than 200 women and girls.

On Friday, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee said that FBI officials reviewing more 100,000 records from the Epstein investigation in March were directed to flag any documents that mentioned Trump.

In a letter to leadership of the Justice Department, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said his office “was told that these personnel were instructed to ‘flag’ any records in which President Trump was mentioned.”

Trump had already been facing mounting pressure from his MAGA base to publicly release Justice Department files from the case of Epstein.

Trump ordered Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi to reverse course on a recent decision to close the case and unseal grand jury testimony. The Justice Department filed a motion to begin that process on Friday afternoon.

“Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval,” Trump announced Thursday on Truth Social. “This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!”

The Department of Justice and FBI declared earlier this month in a memo that Epstein’s case was closed and his 2019 death in a New York city jail was a suicide. But Bondi, a Trump appointee and arch loyalist, immediately agreed Thursday to Trump’s new demand.

“President Trump — we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts,” Bondi wrote on X.

It remains to be seen if Trump and Bondi will persuade a federal judge in New York to release the grand jury transcripts. Such documents are typically not made public and released only under narrowly defined circumstances.

Trump and Epstein became friends in the 1980s.

“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” Mr. Trump told New York magazine, in 2002, noting that Epstein was “a lot of fun to be with” and “likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”

But their friendship apparently broke down in 2008 after Epstein was convicted of child sexual offenses. Their relationship — and the possibility of Trump’s involvement in Epstein’s crimes — has been scrutinized ever since.

The Epstein case has riveted Trump’s Republican base, largely because of the multimillionaire financier’s connections to rich and powerful people they suspect were involved in his child sex trafficking.

But releasing the files is not entirely up to Trump, even if he wanted to.

“You’ve got decades’ worth of materials,” said David Weinstein, a Miami defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, who said the disclosure of grand jury information is governed by federal rules and cannot be released without a court order.

Even if material does get released, it will pertain only to Epstein and Maxwell’s direct activities — and will be much more limited than the volume of investigative materials, including witness interviews, emails, videos and photos that otherwise exist.

Additionally, “there’s a lot of redactions that will have to be made,” Weinstein said, noting the number of individuals who might have been associated with Epstein during the investigation but were not themselves suspected or charged with crimes. “You’ve seen some of that already in the civil cases that were filed, and where courts have said, ‘No, this is what can be put on the docket.’”

After the Department of Justice dropped the case, many of Trump’s most vocal allies, such as U.S. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), openly dissented from the administration and called for the release of all files.

Earlier this week, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie introduced the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act, which would require Bondi to make public all unclassified records, documents and investigative materials that the Department of Justice holds on the Epstein case.

“We all deserve to know what’s in the Epstein files, who’s implicated, and how deep this corruption goes,” Massie said in a statement. “Americans were promised justice and transparency. We’re introducing a discharge petition to force a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on releasing the COMPLETE files.”

A poll conducted by the Economist/YouGov this month found that 83% of Trump’s 2024 supporters favor the government releasing all material related to the Epstein case.

Wilner reported from Washington, Jarvie from Atlanta. Times staff writer Clara Harter contributed to this report.