September 29, 2014: Markets opened lower on Monday as concern related to the demonstrations in Hong Kong and a coming independence vote in Spain that would shave Catalonia off the map of Spain. Personal income and spending both rose more than expected in August. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded down 0.24% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 0.20%, and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.03%.

The Dow 30 stock posting the largest percentage gain ahead of the close today Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM)  which traded lower today by 1.02% at $94.56. The stock’s 52-week range is $84.79 to $104.76. Volume was about 10% below the daily average of around 9.4 million shares. A joint Rosneft-ExxonMobil well in the Kara Sea off the north coast of Russia struck oil last week, but is being shut down due to sanctions against Russia. Rosneft apparently does not have the expertise to operate the well on its own.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) traded down 0.74% at $25.43. The stock’s 52-week range is $23.50 to $28.09. Trading volume was more than 10% below daily average of around 28 million shares. Even a new contract to supply gas turbines for new power plants in Texas wasn’t enough to dodge the downturn in the DJIA.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) traded down 0.54% at $106.52. The stock’s 52-week range is $85.50 to $108.77. The company had no specific news today, but healthcare stocks were another sector that traded in the red today. Volume about 30% below the daily average of 6.2 million shares.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) traded down 0.48% at $87.93 in a 52-week range of $72.08 to $96.24. Volume was about 25% below the daily average of about 3.7 million shares. The credit card company had no specific news today, but the financial sector was down about 1% giving back a similar gain on Friday.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 19 stocks are set to close lower today, and 11 are on track to close higher.

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