Among heavily traded DJIA stocks, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) traded more than 100 million shares on Thursday, well over twice its daily average volume of around 44 million shares. The decline is almost entirely due to a statement from Alan Mulally, CEO at Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), that he has no plans to do anything but retire from Ford at the end of next year. Mulally was widely believed to be the front-runner to replace Steve Ballmer. Microsoft’s shares closed at $38.00, down 2.41%, in a 52-week range of $26.28 to $38.98.
Another DJIA stock leading the decline today is JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM). On a general macroeconomic note, the big bank is likely taking a few lumps from the big GDP number released today which many investors think will spur the Fed to begin tapering its asset buying program. JPMorgan was also hit by a hacker attack that swept up data from 465,000 credit card accounts. And if that wasn’t enough, investors are getting the jitters over next week’s announcement of final regulations for implementing the Volcker rule. JPMorgan’s stock closed down 2.4% at $55.82 in a 52-week range of $41.11 to $58.14.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), like JPMorgan, will get hit by new restrictions on trading that are part of the Volcker rule. An analyst today said that Goldman could see revenues shrink by up to 12% or so as a result of the trading prohibition. Shares for this Dow 30 stock closed down 1.86% at $165.56 in a 52-week range of $115.62 to $171.58.
A fourth DJIA component, Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), saw its share price absolutely collapse after it announced third quarter earnings. Shares are down more than 15% since early November and, while there is no new bad news today, there’s no new good news either. Aside from an enlarged share buyback program, Cisco doesn’t appear to have any idea what to do next. Cisco’s stock closed at $20.91 on Thursday, down 1.6% in a 52-week range of $19.16 to $26.49.
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