The Dow Jones Industrial Average reversed its recent losing streak as concern about the economies of China and Italy and lingering doubts about the U.S. recovery kept stocks in a tight trading pattern, yielding small gains of around 8.8 points, about 0.07%, to keep the index trading around 12,514.
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) was up over 3% in early trading to take it over $15.70, a gain of almost 30 cents, as cost-cutting measures announced by the company met with strong approval. As many as 10,000 workers will be laid off by Cisco in an effort to save $1 billion from its annual budget. Cisco Systems is down almost 24% for the year.
American Express (NYSE: AXP) was up over 1.2%, a gain of about 70 cents, to almost $53. Up almost 24% for the year, American Express is less than 2% beneath its 52-week high. With a relative strength index of 64, American Express is close to 70, when a stock is viewed as being overbought.
Up almost 80% to about $36.65 was Home Depot (NYSE: HD), picking up almost 30 cents in the morning session. Home Depot is benefitting from analyst reports that the lack of new home buyers will result in more people fixing up their current residencies. Every analyst recommendation for Home Depot in 2011 has been positive.
Boeing (NYSE: BA) was down more than 1.2% in the morning session, losing more than 90 cents to about $72.40. Boeing might have to absorb more than $700 million because of cost overruns in the KC -46 tanker program with the U.S. Air Force, according to a recent report. This represents $400 million than previously expected that Boeing will have to cover.
Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) continued its slide, down more than 0.53%, about 50 cents, as the global demand for its products is expected to slack. Trading at under $108, Caterpillar is down for its third day in a row. For the last week of trading, Caterpillar has shed more than 1% of its share price.
Concerns about the world economy had DuPont (NYSE: DD) losing more than 30 cents, about a 0.6% loss of more than 30 cents a share, to take it under $54.50 in the morning session. A recent analyst report forecast tougher days ahead for the chemical maker. Down three days in a row now, DuPont is up more than 9% for the year.
As of this writing, Johnathan Yates did not own any of the aforementioned stocks.
