May 6, 2014: Markets opened lower on Monday and sank slowly and surely for the rest of the day. The dollar weakened against the yen overnight removing some enthusiasm for risk in today’s trading. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded down 0.66%, the S&P 500 was down 0.76%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 1.18%.

The DJIA stock taking the biggest beating today was Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) which traded down 2.39% at $57.23. The company announced this morning that it had sold its over-the-counter business to Bayer AG for $14.2 billion, but that wasn’t enough to overcome today’s wariness. The stock’s 52-week range is $44.62 to $59.84. Share volume was about equal to the daily average of around 11 million shares traded.

Another Dow 30 drug maker, Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) traded down 1.57% at $29.49 in a 52-week range of $27.12 to $32.96. Volume was about 60% above the daily average of around 29 million shares. The company’s pursuit of British drug company AstraZeneca continues to get a lot of pushback from the U.K. firm.

JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) has shut down accounts of all current and former non-U.S. senior government officials as a precaution against fines and compliance costs related to new regulations on money laundering. This move has not been popular among the 3,500 affected account holders. Shares traded at $53.40 today, posting a drop of 1.51%. The stock’s 52-week range is $48.26 to $61.48. Share volume was about equal to the daily average of around 19 million shares traded.

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The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) traded down 1.61% today at $77.43 in a 52-week range of $72.21 to $83.20. Volume was about 250% below the daily average of around 7 million shares. A fund manager has declared single-family housing a short, and that did nothing good for homebuilders or home improvement stores today.

Of the Dow 30 stocks just 3 looked to close higher today while 27 were on their way to a lower finish.

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