Market Update: Best Buy (NYSE:BBY), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Adobe Systems (NASDAQ:ADBE), General Mills (NYSE:GIS)

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Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) is rebooting again. Concerned that consumers are coming to view the world’s largest consumer electronics merchant as just another big-box chain, Chief Executive Officer Brian Dunn is rethinking just about everything the Richfield, Minnesota-based company does. He’s reorganizing the stores; new test locations in Pittsburgh and Las Vegas are less cluttered and bear more than a passing resemblance to Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) retail minimalism. Floor walkers have been retrained to show shoppers how gadgets work together, a concept Dunn calls the “connected store.” The company is moving to “everyday” pricing, a guarantee that shoppers will get the lowest price Best Buy can offer. -Bloomberg

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) said its fiscal third-quarter profit rose to $392.1 million from $332.5 million in the year-earlier period. Adjusted earnings for the quarter were 56 cents a share, matching the consensus forecast of analysts. In other news, Adobe Systems (NASDAQ:ADBE) reported an 84% rise in fiscal first-quarter profit, but also cut its second-quarter forecast because of the impact of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. -Marketwatch

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) said Wednesday the Federal Reserve has objected to its plan for raising its dividend in the second half of this year, a setback that suggests regulators need to see more evidence that the nation’s largest bank is strong enough to weather another recession. But the bank said in a regulatory filing that it’s been given another opportunity to submit a comprehensive plan to the Fed so that the central bank may reconsider its decision. The bank expects to resubmit a request to dole out a higher second-half dividend. The bank has paid a penny-per-share quarterly dividend for the last two years. Its last dividend was a penny a share, declared in January and payable on Friday. The dividend peaked at 64 cents in mid-2008 before being halved to 32 cents later that year. -Daily Finance

 


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