May 22 2015: Markets opened mixed on Friday on a day that was tough on blue chips. The energy sector slipped on a stronger dollar and lower crude oil prices, even though crude posted a (tiny) weekly gain for the tenth week in a row. Trading volume was light going into the three-day Memorial Day weekend. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded down 0.17% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 0.10%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 0.09%.

The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Friday was The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) which traded down 1.66% at $144.91. The stock’s 52-week range is $116.32 to $158.83. Trading volume was about 25% below the daily average of around 4 million shares. The company had no specific news today.

Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) traded lower by 1.11% at $59.43. The stock’s 52-week range is $52.49 to $63.62. Trading volume was about 40% below the daily average of around 11 million shares. The company received a positive opinion on its melanoma treatment from a European regulatory agency.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) traded down 0.91% at $46.99. The stock’s 52-week range is $39.81 to $50.05. Trading volume was less than half the daily average of around 37 million shares. The company’s rumored interest in acquiring Salesforce.com came to naught, again.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) traded down 0.89% at $101.51. The stock’s 52-week range is $95.10 to $109.49. Trading volume was about 45% below the daily average of around 7.8 million shares. The company’s play to sell its K-Y brand to Europe’s Reckitt Benckiser has run into some pushback from the EU’s competition watchdog.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 20 are set to close lower today and 10 are on track to close higher.

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