Dow Falls, Can't Get Up
Markets are down across the board today, as the jobs report was wildly underwhelming. Sure, headline unemployment dropped down to 8.1%, but that was largely job seekers giving up hope. The economy added 115,000 jobs, but 350,000 left the labor force. Feel the recovery!
With that in mind, let's take a closer look at how the major indexes are fared and drill down on a few stocks driving today's action.
Index | Gain/Loss | Gain/Loss % | Intraday Value |
|---|---|---|---|
Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) | (151.22) | (1.15%) | 13,055.37 |
Nasdaq | (58.00) | (1.92%) | 2,966.30 |
S&P 500 | (19.54) | (1.40%) | 1,372.03 |
Source: Yahoo! Finance.
Today's sell-off has been broad. The Dow is held up better than the other two major indexes, but all 30 components are in negative territory. Cisco (NAS: CSCO) is currently the index's biggest decliner, off 3%, despite no real negative news. The tech sector's rough day has pushed the Nasdaq back under 3,000.
Microsoft (NAS: MSFT) isn't faring much better, with a 2.4% loss despite rumors swirling of an announcement regarding a $99 Xbox with Kinect. In the short term, the 66% price cut should impact Sony (NYS: SNE) and its PlayStation 3's market share, but Microsoft is likely playing the long game here. Xbox currently isn't a huge part of Microsoft's business, but the coming battle will be over the television ecosystem. Most new TVs offer Internet connectivity with limited features, while systems like Playstation 3 and Xbox offer a more integrated experience. With rumors that Apple (NAS: AAPL) is working on a television presumably linked to iTunes, Microsoft may be trying to lay an early claim to the market and get users hooked on its Xbox Live offering instead.
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At the time thisarticle was published David Williamson holds no position in any company mentioned. Click here to see his holdings and a short bio. The Motley Fool owns shares of Sony, Microsoft, Cisco Systems, and Apple. The Fool has created a bear call spread position in Sony. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Apple and Microsoft, as well as creating bull call spread positions in Apple and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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