The Dow Jones Industrials (^DJI -0.11%) haven't opened April to the fanfare with which they ended Marc: A relatively slow trading day has taken the shine off the first quarter's extremely strong performance. Nevertheless, with the Dow down just 10 points as of 2:15 p.m. EDT, there are no signs yet of the selling pressure that many skeptical investors had predicted would open the second quarter. Without any broad-based geopolitical or macroeconomic news to send stocks lower, the market appears content to tread water until the next big event or data becomes available.
But some individual stocks should keep things interesting for investors. Boeing (BA -2.87%) has fallen 0.7% after delaying a test flight of its Dreamliner 787, which was reportedly scheduled to fly Saturday. According to the Seattle Times, the flight was intended to test new power-panel engineering. With the grounding of the Dreamliner again having forced United Airlines to delay the beginning of its Denver-to-Tokyo service, Boeing will face increasing pressure to get its aircraft up and running as soon as possible.
Bank of America (BAC -0.13%) is flat after getting mixed news regarding its legal liability. Over the weekend a federal judge dismissed claims against B of A and several other banks, including fellow Dow component JPMorgan Chase (JPM 0.49%), concerning the LIBOR-fixing scandal. The judge concluded that the plaintiffs, which included pension funds and other bond investors as well as financial institutions, hadn't established a close enough link between LIBOR and their losses to prove that they had been harmed by the alleged behavior. On the other hand, B of A's Merrill Lynch unit got sued for more than $300 million in connection with bad mortgage-backed securities. B of A appears likely to continue to see pressure on the legal front for the foreseeable future.
Finally, Cisco Systems (CSCO 0.06%) pushed into positive territory after announcing it would raise its dividend again, pushing its quarterly payout up $0.03 to $0.17 per share. The move pushed the tech stock's yield beyond the 3% mark, and it will mark its third increase in five quarters, as the company only started making payouts at the beginning of 2011. Dividend investors have to be happy with the trend that Cisco and other tech stocks have followed in boosting payouts.
