Today's move higher was short lived. Actually, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Index: ^DJI) didn't even make it the whole day without falling into the red. Around 3PM, the Dow began flirting with turning negative for the day and, by the closing bell, the index was lower by 18.58 points. The current losing streak for the Dow is now in its fourth day. Closing out last week at 13,610, the Dow now sits at 13,326. The main driver during early market hours was the positive jobs number reported by the Labor Department. The agency announced that last week's initial jobless claims fell to their lowest level in more than four years. While this was great news in the morning, it became old news by the end of the day. The markets are tired of good jobs numbers; they want good earnings reports and, after Alcoa's release on Tuesday, it shouldn't be a surprise why the Dow closed down today.
Not all was doom and gloom in the Dow. Three companies ended the day higher; Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), and Chevron (NYSE: CVX).
So why were they up?
The Dow banks got a major lift today after reports that the European Union may delay implementing more regulation on capital requirements for banks. My colleague, John Maxfield, goes into extensive detail about all the banking news from today, even the controversial comments made by Jamie Dimon. Whether or not what Mr. Dimon said today will put him in the hot seat tomorrow, his company's share price moved higher by 0.79%. Bank of America's shareholders watched their investment increase by 1.41% today, giving investors a year-to-date return of 68%.
After yesterday's 4% decline, shares of Chevron rose by 0.54% during today's session. Although Chevron "substantially lowered" their estimates for third quarter earnings, which caused yesterday's decline, the company is going to make money, and will continue to in the future. The decline made a great buying opportunity for investors looking for a good time to get in. The company boasts a dividend of 3.10%, and has a positive year-to-date change of 6.26, while only having a price to earnings multiple of 8.4.
