The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) looks as if it's calling it quits after its three-month 7% climb that started 2012 with a bang. The Dow fell 125 points, or -0.95%, to close the day at 13,074. It's down from its 52-week high of 13,331, and it's flirting with the psychological 13,000 threshold yet again.
The negative news hitting markets today includes the Federal Reserve's backing away from further quantitative easing, and even more debt troubles from the eurozone. The Dow stocks that took the news the hardest today? Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Alcoa (NYSE: AA), and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT). While no one likes to see the index down some 1%, putting the year-to-date performance in perspective, today's drop doesn't seem so bad -- maybe even necessary.
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