March 19, 2014: Markets opened lower on Wednesday and closed even lower after Janet Yellen’s debut as chairwoman of the U.S Federal Reserve. The major change is that the Fed is dropping its commitment to hold interest rates steady well beyond the time the unemployment rate falls below 6.5%. Another $10 billion a month was whacked from asset purchases as well. In the final minutes of trading the DJIA was down by 0.7% – or -114 points and the S&P 500 was down almost 11.40 or -0.6%.

Wednesday was a sea of red, but after looking at the DJIA components it was really 5 of 30 stocks that acted as the biggest drag either against the index or on peers.

Wednesday’s big loser among the DJIA stocks was The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) which was down 1.8% at $122.24 in a 52-week range of $83.80 to $144.57. Volume was ahead of the average at 6.5 million shares versus a norm of 5.2 million shares. The company should have gotten a boost on a report from the FAA that the design and manufacturing processes for its 787 are safe.

The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) traded down 1.8% to $80.52 against a 52-week range of $55.87 to $83.65. Share volume was about 30% below the daily average of around 7.3 million shares traded.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) closed down $2.10, or -1.1% at $184.71, the big culprit in the DJIA drop based on the price-weighted calculation for the index. The stock’s 52-week range is $172.19 to $215.82. Volume was about 20% below the average daily volume of nearly 5 million shares traded.

Another actively traded — and losing — DJIA stock today was General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) which traded down 1.44% to $25.28. GE, which has significant investments in Russia, was a victim of investors’ wariness about what will happen in Russia if the West applies sanctions. Volume was about 3 million shares short of the daily average of around 37 million shares traded.

McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) traded down 1.2% to $96.10 on Wednesday. Shares dropped below $96 after the FOMC announcement but closed above the $96 handle against its 52-week range of $92.22 to $103.70. Trading volume for McDonald’s shares was 5.1 million shares – inline with normal days.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 25 closed lower on Wednesday. Only 4 were up at the close, and Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) managed to close unchanged.

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