January 5, 2015: Markets opened lower on Monday and things go worse and worse as the day went on. Crude oil traded below $50 a barrel briefly and Citi lowered its rating on one DJIA stock from Buy to Hold to emphasize the damage that cheap oil may begin to impart to the economy. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded down 1.71% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 1.70%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 1.46%.

The DJIA stock posting the largest daily loss ahead of the close Monday was Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) which traded lower by 5.34% at $86.97. The stock’s 52-week range is $85.88 to $111.46. Volume was nearly double the daily average of around 5 million shares. The stock was downgraded to Underweight by analysts at JPMorgan today and the price target was lowered from $95 to $80. The company’s exposure to the expected slowdown in energy exploration and development gets the blame for the downgrade.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) traded down 3.86% at $108.24. The stock’s 52-week range is $100.15 to $135.10. Trading volume was about 15% above the daily average of around 8.5 million shares. Chevron took a downgrade from Citi today. If crude oil prices keep falling, this won’t be the last downgrade either.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) traded down 3.01% at $60.61. The stock’s 52-week range is $52.97 to $93.49. Trading volume was about 15% above the daily average of around 15 million shares. Analysts at Goldman Sachs said the (competitor) big bank should be broken up.

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE: DD) traded down 2.48% at $71.89. The stock’s 52-week range is $59.35 to $75.82. Trading volume is about 15% below the daily average of around 4.4 million shares. The company had no specific news today.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 28 are set to close lower today and just 2 are on track to close higher.

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