You win some, you lose some. The big winners one day may be the market's biggest losers the next.
That's what's happening to Caterpillar (CAT -6.62%) right now. The stock has been pulling the Dow (^DJI -1.18%) for a couple of days, but the bulldozer ran out of gas today.
Recent good news about a healthy home construction market was overshadowed by a surprisingly high number of jobless claims, taking the wind out of Caterpillar's sails. The stock fell 1.7%, single-handedly removing 13 points from the Dow. Without this sudden plunge, the index would stand pat right now
Fellow industrial-tools maker United Technologies (RTX 0.53%) followed suit with a 1.5% price drop, or nine negative Dow points.
Oil producers largely balanced out these losses, despite reports of lower oil prices and bulging supplies worldwide. Chevron (CVX 0.48%) and Exxon Mobil (XOM -0.29%) combined to add 12 points to the Dow by midday. Some analysts believe the plunging oil price might be a special kind of flash crash and expect the commodity to make a full recovery.
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