With investors putting big economic stimulus packages behind them, the markets are starting to focus on some of the tired old news stories. This morning, the lack of any positive news from Europe over the weekend seems to have markets on edge, especially with the failure of eurozone leadership to come up with a united front. With this, along with the fiscal cliff looming as we approach the final six weeks before the 2012 elections, stocks gave up ground. The Dow Jones Industrials (^DJI 0.35%) fell about 50 points by 10:30 a.m. EDT.
Intel (INTC -1.94%) led the Dow's decliners, falling nearly 2.5%. In the absence of positive news to the contrary, investors seem certain that the chipmaker won't be able to overcome stubborn weakness in the PC market to build up a substantial presence in the mobile industry. Given the rampant pessimism, if Intel can enter the mobile market convincingly, then there's a lot of upside in the stock's price.
The Dow's telecom stocks were up, with AT&T (T 1.07%) rising three-quarters of a percent while Verizon posted a more modest gain. The iPhone 5 release went extremely well in its opening weekend, with 5 million sales reported. comScore reported that among U.S. preorders for the iPhone between Sept. 14 and Sept. 16, AT&T garnered a whopping 68%, compared with Verizon's 24% and Sprint's (S) meager 8%. Yet those numbers often change quickly, so AT&T's early win definitely isn't a death knell for Verizon.
Finally, Boeing (BA 0.15%) fell about 0.6% despite winning a $1.9 billion contract from the U.S. Navy. The contract includes purchases of 11 P-8 surveillance planes for the Navy. As defense cuts start taking shape, victories like this will become increasingly important for Boeing and its defense contractor peers.
