January 2, 2014: Markets opened lower on Thursday likely due to some profit taking following an end-of-the-year buying spree. Trading volume was light again as traders presumably continued their holiday vacations. The DJIA closed down 0.82%, the S&P 500 closed down 0.89%, and the Nasdaq Composite closed down 0.80%.

One of the big movers among DJIA stocks today was General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE), which closed down 1.93% at $27.49 in a 52-week range of $20.68 to $28.09. The stock opened Thursday morning just slightly above its opening price on December 26th. Since then shares have gained nearly 1% — until today. Volume was about equal to the daily average of 36 million shares traded.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (NYSE: DD), opened at around the same level in relation to price as GE and closed down 1.94% at $63.71. The stock’s 52-week range is $45.11 to $65.00, and the high was set on Tuesday. Volume was about 13% below the daily average of around 3.9 million shares traded.

The Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) opened down about 0.5% at $41.12 in a 52-week range of $36.52 to $43.43 and closed at $40.67, down 1.55% for the day. Volume was about 25% lighter than the daily average of nearly 15 million shares traded, and there was no news on company.

The Travelers Companies Inc. (NYSE: TRV) traded about two-thirds its daily average volume of nearly 2 million shares on Thursday. The stock opened essentially flat, but closed down 1.33% at $89.34 in a 52-week range of $72.50 to $91.68.

Another stock that took a significant dip today was Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) which was down 0.7% at this mornings opening bell. Trading was lighter than average at about 44 million compared with the daily average of 45 million. The stock closed at $22.00, down 1.92% in a 52-week range of $19.98 to $26.49.

Of the Dow 30 stocks only 2 closed higher today.

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