November 3, 2014: Markets opened slightly higher on Monday as the blue chip indexes started the week sluggishly. Crude oil prices dropped below $80 a barrel again following news that Saudi Arabia cut its prices for December exports to the U.S. Tech stocks held onto a small gain right up to the end of the day’s trading. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded down 0.13% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 0.07%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 0.05%.

The Dow 30 stock posting the largest daily gain ahead of the close today was Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) which traded lower by 2.61% at $116.82. The stock’s 52-week range is $106.65 to $135.10. Volume was about 15% below the daily average of around 6.5 million shares. Crude prices closed below $79 a barrel on Monday, a more-than-two-year low.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) traded down 1.38% at $100.01. The stock’s 52-week range is $81.87 to $111.46. Trading volume was about 35% below the daily average of around 5.1 million shares. The company last Friday received a subpoena from the U.S. SEC regarding how Cat accounted for its acquisition of Bucyrus.

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) traded lower by 1.51% at $95.25. The stock’s 52-week range is $86.91 to $104.76. Volume was about 15% below the daily average of around 11.8 million shares. The stock price reacted to the falling price of crude today.

The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) traded down 1.34% at $96.21. The stock’s 52-week range is $73.96 to $99.26. Volume was about 20% below the daily average of around 2.6 million shares. The stock was downgraded at Raymond James today from Outperform to Market Perform.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 17 are set to close lower today and 13 are on track to close higher.

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