The stock market is dropping modestly following last week's run toward Dow 13,000. Over the weekend, Warren Buffett's annual letter to investors pointed to stocks as a better bet than bonds or gold, but that didn't take the sting out of the meeting of the Group of 20 and its message that Europe will need to spend even more money to resolve its sovereign debt crisis. Just before 11 a.m. EST, the Dow Jones Industrials (INDEX: ^DJI) were down 15 points at 12,967.
Among Dow stocks, General Electric (NYSE: GE) was down about 0.8%. The company said it would be part of a joint venture investing $225 million in a Texas wind farm. The project, owned by NextEra Energy, will add to GE's portfolio of wind energy in the Lone Star State, with more than 2,100 megawatts of capacity. Moreover, it should add to GE's status as an alternative energy producer.
Boeing (NYSE: BA) also fell about 0.6%. Reports last week showed that United Continental (NYSE: UAL) had revealed efforts to recover potential damages from the aircraft manufacturer over the late delivery of Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner aircraft. The filing didn't give many details, but it's just the latest in a series of problems connected to the project. Boeing moved 777 program head Larry Loftis to be the new leader of the Dreamliner program in the hopes of getting it back on track.
Finally, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) was down more than 1%. Bloomberg reported that the settlement of its foreclosure practices will have the extra benefit of protecting B of A and its fellow banks from some losses on home equity loans. With more than $100 billion in home equity loans on its books, B of A will benefit from proportional loss-sharing between first and second liens against real estate.
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