May 7, 2014: Markets opened higher on Wednesday but it turned into a miserable days for tech stocks and the Nasdaq Composite index. Lack of enthusiasm for momentum stocks pretty much sealed the Nasdaq’s fate for the day’s trading. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded up 0.72%, the S&P 500 was up 0.53.%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 0.51%.

The DJIA stock posting the biggest gain today was Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) which traded up 1.57% at $48.22. The company had no news today but the blue chips did well with a triple-digit gain just before the bell. The stock’s 52-week range is $45.08 to $53.67. Share volume was about half the daily average of around 44 million shares traded.

Healthcare stock Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) traded up 1.4% at $100.90 in a 52-week range of $82.12 to $101.98, coming within a buck of the annual high late in the day. Volume was about 20% below the daily average of around 8.3 million shares. J&J is taking some of the sting out of another down day for drug maker Merck.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) has reached an agreement with a law firm that represented the company’s opponents in the massive Ecuadorean environmental case. Chevron gets $15 million among other rights. Shares traded at $126.31 today, posting a rise of 1.09%. The stock’s 52-week range is $109.27 to $127.83. Share volume was about 60% of the daily average of around 6.3 million shares traded.

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The hardest hit of the momentum stocks was Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) which traded down 22.54% today at $5.21 in a 52-week range of $5.18 to $12.76. The low was set today, after the company posted disappointing earnings results last night. Volume was about triple the daily average of around 22 million shares.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 22 looked to close higher today while 8 were on their way to a lower finish.

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