March 14, 2014: Markets opened slightly lower on Friday after markets in both Asia and Europe traded lower. The Japanese yen strengthened overnight knocking 3.3% off the Nikkei. In Europe the weekend vote in the Crimea pushed most European exchanges lower as well. In the final minutes of trading the DJIA was down 0.21%, the S&P 500 was down 0.22%, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.25%.

Today’s big loser among the Dow stocks was UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH). The healthcare sector traded lower today, down about 0.3% shortly before closing. The sector is up about 30% over the past 12 months and 4% year-to-date. UnitedHealth’s shares traded down 1.56% at $75.80 in a 52-week range of $54.23 to $78.57 just ahead of the closing bell. Volume is on track to be 20% below the daily average of some 4.7 million shares traded.

The most heavily traded Nasdaq stock today is Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI). Shares are up 2.37% at $3.44 in a 52-week range of $2.95 to $4.18. Liberty Media’s acquisition of the 48% of Sirius that Liberty does not already own was canceled this morning when Liberty announced that it would initiate a new tracking stock scheme. Sirius XM’s share volume was more than 4-times the daily average of around 67 million shares traded.

Among actively traded stocks on the NYSE today, Aeropostale Inc. (NYSE: ARO) is getting a real beating, down 19.18%. The teen retailing company reported poor fourth quarter results and awful first quarter estimates after markets closed last night. The stock will close at around $5.90 in a 52-week range of $5.84 to $17.10 (the low was set today). Volume was about 11-times the daily average of around around 3.2 million shares traded.

After falling a bit more than 2% yesterday, The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) trades up 0.92% today at $123.01 in its 52-week range of $83.80 to $144.57 shortly before the closing bell. The company is working on a sale to India’s Jet Airways and believes there’s a potential to sell 1,600 new airplanes in India over the next 20 years. Trading volume for Boeing’s shares 0was about 5% below the daily average of around 5.2 million shares.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 9 are set to close higher today while 20 are on their way to a lower close and 1 is unchanged.

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