The Dow Jones Industrial Average
The Fed’s indication yesterday that it had no plans for another round of quantitative easing appeared to weigh on the Dow at the open, as it fell about 100 points in early trading. Japan’s central bank also passed up an opportunity for monetary relief, further souring investors.
Indian IT giant Infosys
Despite the market’s slide, there was some good news to be found today. Initial unemployment claims fell to four-year lows, dropping by 26,000 to 350,000. The number, which is seasonally adjusted, could be distorted because automakers, who usually temporarily lay off employees at this time of year so they can reconfigure machinery, kept plants open last week due to high demand. Continuing unemployment claims, meanwhile, remained roughly the same.
Two Dow stocks stood head and shoulders above the crowd today. Pharmaceutical-maker Merck
Leading the Dow’s march downward were tech components Cisco, Microsoft, and Intel, all falling more than 2% on Infosys’s warning.
Finally, keep an eye out for JPMorgan Chase’s
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