The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) saw its recent winning streak end in a big way today, falling 1.14% in trading. Concerns over Europe (surprise!) played the predominant role in moving the market and pushed the Dow's counterpart index, the S&P 500, back into the red for the year. It certainly didn't take too long after the market's Christmastime lull for now-common volatility to reappear.
How Big Tech fared today
The technology components of the Dow produced a mixed bag of performances, with no central storyline driving the sector today. In trading action, networking stalwart Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) declined substantially more than the market, tumbling almost 2.3%. Struggling tech titan Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) declined 1.75%, also well ahead of the market. As we approach the end of the year, each stock sees itself squarely in the red in 2011. For the year, Cisco fell 7.8%, while HP really took it on the chin, to the tune of a 38.7% decrease. While Cisco still has a strong, albeit cyclical, core business, HP still seems mired in the identity crisis that made it one of the worst-performing Dow stocks over the past calendar year.
Rounding out the rest of the action, semiconductor giant Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) declined 1.3%, nearly in lockstep with the market. On a slightly more positive note, heavyweights Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), AT&T (NYSE: T), and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) all fared better than the market, each declining by less than 1 percentage point.
Gifts that keep on giving to investors
As the holiday begins to fade into our rearview mirrors, investors are starting to see some pretty impressive seasonal statistics emerge. The two biggest winners, consumer favorites Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), saw their dominance of the mobile space expand still further. On Christmas Day alone, those lucky enough to find themselves on Santa's nice column activated an astounding 1.5 million Android devices and 6.8 million iOS decives -- again, in a single day. This further illustrates the degree to which these companies absolutely dominate the mobile space. Google's free Android operating system already owns 43% of the mobile OS space, making it the dominant force in mobile search (and advertising by extension). Apple, which racks up impressive profit margins on each device sale, owns a formidable 28% share of the mobile market. With no clear challengers set to chip away from these two giants, investors in these companies should ride the mobile boom for years to come.
Foolish bottom line
If you're looking for an outperformer as we flip the calendar to 2012, The Motley Fool has created a brand-new free report: "The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2012." It features a company hand-selected by the Fool's chief investment officer that has a strong future ahead of it. I invite you to take a copy, free for a limited time. Get access to the report and find out the name of this legendary company.
Fool technology and media analyst and editor Andrew Tonner owns no positions in any of the companies mentioned in this article. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple, Intel, Microsoft, Cisco Systems, and Google, has bought calls on Intel, and has created a bull call spread position on Cisco Systems. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Intel, Microsoft, Apple, Cisco Systems, and Google. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended creating bull call spread positions in Apple, Microsoft, and Intel. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
