The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 100 points, about a 1% drop, to around 11,212. Hopes are fading that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will use his talk tomorrow at Jackson Hole, Wyo., to introduce more stimulus measures for the U.S. economy. This — coupled with a slew of bad economic news concerning jobs, housing and the credit markets — is halting the Dow’s streak for the weak.
Bolstering the Dow this morning was the disclosure that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) is investing $5 billion in Bank of America. While financials have been the worst-performing sector on the Dow this year, the three leaders were all from this segment.
Leading the Dow was its worst-performing stock for the year, Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), rising about 20% to around $8.35, a gain of around $1.35 per share. With the imprimatur of Warren Buffett, others were following his lead. Bank of America is down about 40% for the quarter.
JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) was heading up along with Bank of America, higher by more than 4% to over $37.30 a share, a gain of around $1.50. JP Morgan is up slightly for the year, less than 1%.
Rising by about 70 cents per share, or about 1.4%, to around $48.75 was American Express (NYSE:AXP). For the week, American Express is up about 5%.
Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) was down about 2% to around $68.30, falling more than $1.35. Consumer stocks were taking a beating after a weak U.S. jobs report. Coca-Cola is up for the week, month, quarter and year. It is trading about 2% from its year high.
3M (NYSE:MMM) was lower by about $1.30, shedding about 1.6% to fall under $79 per share. 3M lost an age bias lawsuit, which could lead to others. While up about 2% for the year, MMM is down around 12% for the quarter. 3M has a relative strength index rating of 40, with 30 considered to be the standard for a stock to be viewed as oversold.
Merck (NYSE:MRK) was down about 50 cents, a drop of around 1.3%, to around $31.80. Reports are out that Merck is dead money through 2012 as there are no new major drugs coming out. For 2011, Merck is down more than 2.5%, falling about 10% during the past month.
Jonathan Yates does not own any of the stocks mentioned in this article.
