Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over daily movements, we do like to keep an eye on market changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
The U.S's involvement in the Syrian conflict once again caused stress for investors today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -0.12%) was in triple-digit territory early this morning, but as government officials began voicing their opinions about why the U.S. should enter the region, stocks began falling and traded in the red for a few hours. But around 3 p.m. EDT, the index turned positive once more and managed to close the session in the black after gaining 23 points, or 0.16%. The other major indexes also followed a similar path, as the S&P 500 closed higher by 0.42% and the Nasdaq ended the day up 0.63%.
When talk of war started, not all stocks began heading lower. United Technologies (RTX -0.09%) rose 2.56%, making it the best-performing Dow component of the day. The company's Pratt & Whitney division is its second-largest revenue generator and should benefit if the U.S. does use military force in Syria, no matter how much force is used. This action also comes at a time when the company has been hurt by Pentagon spending cuts related to the sequestration and other government spending programs that have been pared back.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM -0.40%) also saw its shares rise but it was unrelated to the Syria conflict. Instead, it was based on the announcement that Verizon is purchasing the 45% stake Vodafone owns of Verizon Wireless. This deal and the bond offering associated with it will produce fees of more than $600 million, of which JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley will collect the lion's share. That is a nice chunk of change for processing the deal and underwriting the debt offering. Shares of JPMorgan rose 1.19% today.
The Dow's other banking stock, Bank of America (BAC 1.59%), also rose higher, gaining 0.92%. The bank reported earlier today that it had started selling its stake in China Construction Bank and could get as much as $1.5 billion from the proceeds of the sale. This is an investment Bank of America has been divesting for a number of years, but this final sale will have the bank completely out of the Chinese company. The sale also comes at a time when the Chinese banking industry has begun showing signs of stress as the economy in that country is weakening. For B of A shareholders, this is one less liability they need to worry about.
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