Last week investors were hit with one economic data point after another, and the markets fared well. Those positive feelings have been carried through to this week as the markets continue to climb higher, though there's no news of note so far today.
As of 12:55 p.m. EDT the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -1.79%) is up 60 points, or 0.4%, to 15,030. The S&P 500 is up 0.37%, sitting comfortably above the 1,600-point level. The Nasdaq is more muted, up just two points.
(MSFT -0.93%)
Another Dow and Nasdaq stock falling today is Cisco (CSCO -1.64%), which is down 1.8%. Cisco has recently announced a number of new business developments and products, but investors have not seen any new revenue or profit from these ventures. And until shareholders see the return on investment on their research and development dollars, they will likely continue moving away from the stock.
Shares of both Dow energy stocks, Chevron (CVX 0.53%) and ExxonMobil (XOM 2.12%), are flat today. The price of light crude is down 0.69% today, and natural gas is down 1.77%. And because both companies have diversified their businesses into the latter, cleaner-burning fuel that is abundant in North America, they must deal with how falling natural-gas prices will affect profits.
