Two key achievements -- the reaching of a deal for Greece to implement austerity measures and the settlement of long-standing allegations against major mortgage lenders -- may not have received favorable marks from everyone involved, but apparently, the stock market was pleased enough with the outcomes to rise modestly. The Dow Jones Industrials
But even though the Dow rose, some stocks weren't so lucky. Let's take a look at three Dow stocks whose shares fell on Thursday.
Cisco Systems
When Cisco first announced its quarterly results last night, shares initially rose in after-hours trading. That seemed to make sense, as the company announced sales up 11% and solid earnings growth of 43%. But then two different analysts downgraded the stock on concerns about whether the company is really on track to regain its once-invulnerable status.
As fellow Fool contributor Rich Smith noted today in his article on the downgrades, the problem Cisco faces is that its stock has already risen sharply enough that investors expect a lot from the company. Even with positive results, shares could be under pressure until Cisco's business catches up with its stock price.
Hewlett-Packard
The news for HP isn't so much about HP as it is about the competition. Rival Oracle
HP's relationship with the cloud isn't as extensive as Oracle's, but the two companies have often tried to one-up each other in the past. Investors may be responding negatively to the fact that HP appears to be missing out in the consolidation of the cloud-computing industry.
JPMorgan Chase
For JPMorgan, the big news of the day came when 49 state governments agreed to a settlement with major mortgage lenders amounting to more than $25 billion. Under the plan, homeowners with mortgages for more than their homes are worth will get principal writedowns, while those who've already been foreclosed upon will get payouts of roughly $2,000 each. Some of the money will go toward providing refinancing at currently lower interest rates.
Sure, $25 billion is a lot of money, so it's reasonable for the stock to be falling slightly today. But the good news for JPMorgan and other banks is that this should streamline its efforts to clean up bad loans going forward. In the end, JPMorgan could see this as a turning point in getting itself back on track and through the aftermath of the mortgage mess.
What will tomorrow bring?
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