The Four Stocks That Wrecked the Market

Photo of Paul Ausick
By Paul Ausick Updated Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

stock symbol ticker
thinkstock
March 26, 2014: Markets opened higher on Tuesday but equity prices trailed downward all morning, finally going into the red in the early afternoon. If there was any momentum in today’s market it couldn’t overcome a weak IPO from Candy Crush Saga game maker King Digital Entertainment PLC (NYSE: KING) and another day in the doldrums for biotech stocks. In the final minutes of trading the DJIA was down 0.46%, the S&P 500 was down 0.56%, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.22%.

Again today the big market mover among the DJIA stocks was International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) which lost 0.95% to give back about half the gains it made yesterday. The shares traded at $193.12 in a 52-week range of $172.19 to $214.89 just ahead of the closing bell. Volume was on track to be more than 10% higher than the daily average of around 5 million shares traded. No news today, so maybe some profit-taking, as the stock put up a year-to-date high yesterday.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) bounced lower today, down 0.97% to close at $39.95 in a 52-week range of $28.08 to $40.99. Share volume was about 10% below the daily average of around 37 million shares traded. The Redmond giant posted its 52-week high yesterday and, as with IBM, now looks like a good for some investors to harvest some profit.

Big bank JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) also posted a new 52-week high yesterday and the shares traded down down 1.67% today at $59.91. The 52-week range for the stock is $46.05 to $61.48. In addition to the new high, the bank lost a potential replacement for Jamie Dimon yesterday when Mike Cavanaugh left the bank to sign on with private equity firm The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG). Trading volume for JPMorgan’s shares was about 5% below the daily average of around 19 million shares traded.

And the Nasdaq’s fall into negative territory could be put down partly to Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB).The company paid $2 billion in cash and stock last night for virtual reality firm Oculus Rift, and investors haven’t figured out yet how Facebook makes money on the deal. The stock traded down 6.36% today at $60.74 in a 52-week range of $22.67 to $72.59. Trading volume was nearly 50% above the daily average of around 58 million shares traded.

And King Digital’s IPO was crushed, down 15.51% to close near $19.00 after going out at $22.50. Volume was nearly 38 million shares traded.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 25 are set to close lower today and just 5 are on their way to a higher close.

Photo of Paul Ausick
About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

CBOE Vol: 1,568,143
PSKY Vol: 12,285,993
STX Vol: 7,378,346
ORCL Vol: 26,317,675
DDOG Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ Vol: 4,367,433
CLX Vol: 13,260,523
SYK Vol: 4,519,455
MHK Vol: 1,859,865
AMGN Vol: 3,818,618