February 21, 2014: Markets opened higher on Friday, but by the end of the day the major indexes failed to stay above the break-even line. Today’s report on existing home sales was weaker than expected and equities just couldn’t pull out a gain. Natural gas closed the week up 18% and crude oil closed the week up just under 2%. In the final minutes of trading the DJIA was down 0.20%, the S&P 500 was down 0.19%, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.11%.

Once again, today’s big mover among the Dow 30 stocks was Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ). Unlike yesterday, however, shares traded down 1.91% at $47.21 in a 52-week range of $44.72 to $54.31 just ahead of the closing bell. The company’s acquisition of Vodafone’s 45% in Verizon Wireless closed today, and investors may be waiting to hear how that’s going to be good for them. Verizon’s volume is on track to be more than double the daily average of around 16 million shares traded.

Another DJIA stock that weighed on the index today was Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX). The stock was trading down 1.60% at $112.75, in a 52-week range of $109.27 to $127.83. There was no news for on Chevron today, but crude futures closed about 0.6% lower today. Chevron’s share volume was about equal to the daily average of around 6.2 million shares traded.

Among actively traded Nasdaq shares, Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) is on track to close down 22.03% at $8.02 in a 52-week range of $4.24 to $12.76. The company’s fourth quarter results were good and guidance was no worse than mixed. Investors apparently have doubts about the company’s ability to turn itself around. Trading volume was more than 8-times the daily average of some 17 million shares.

The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) posted a new 52-week high of $80.45 today. Shares are poised to add 1.21% today and are trading at $80.15 just minutes before the closing bell. There was no news from Disney today, but the company has been on a tear, up 15% since early February. Share volume was about 15% lower than the daily average of around 26 million shares traded.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 11 closed higher today while 19 closed lower.

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