These Are the Stocks Moving the Dow Today

The Dow Jones Industrial Index (INDEX: ^DJI) is taking a breather after last week's heart-thumping action.

The index fell 0.3% in Monday's morning action, with only nine of its 30 components trading in positive territory. It's hard to pin the drop on any particular stock. Bank of America (NYS: BAC) lost 2.2% as the S&P credit rating agency slashed its quality ratings on some of the megabank's mortgage papers even deeper into junk status. Cisco Systems (NAS: CSCO) fell 2.1% as the networking giant agreed to sell its stake in Comviva Technologies to Indian software firm Tech Mahindra.

But these market moves cut just two and three points off the Dow, respectively. Bank of America and Cisco are among the lowest-weighted stocks on the Dow due to their low share prices.

That's why smaller moves by pricier stocks made a bigger impact on the Dow today. Like it or not, that's just how the most-watched market index rolls. Boeing (NYS: BA) dropped just 1.5% but reduced the index by eight points, and Caterpillar (NYS: CAT) slashed seven points off the index with a 0.9% drop. Investors are backing off last week's raucous gains on Bernanke's infrastructure investment plan.

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The article These Are the Stocks Moving the Dow Today originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Anders Bylund has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. The Motley Fool owns shares of Bank of America. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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