January 12, 2015: Markets opened higher on Monday but that didn’t last long. Falling crude prices sucked all the air out of the bulls, and falling tech stocks finished the job. Crude ended the day’s trading at $46.07, its lowest close since April of 2009. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded down 0.31% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 0.64%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 0.69%.

The DJIA stock posting the largest daily loss ahead of the close Friday was Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) which traded down 2.13% at $90.14. The stock’s 52-week range is $86.19 to $104.76. Trading volume was about 25% below the daily average of around 15 million shares. The company had no specific news today but the downturn in crude oil prices combined with a downward revision in crude price estimates from Goldman Sachs and a comment from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal that oil will never again reach $100 a barrel were too much to shrug off.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) traded lower by 1.92% at $106.12. The stock’s 52-week range is $100.15 to $135.10. Trading volume was about 20% below the daily average of around 8.8 million shares. The comments on Exxon apply here as well.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) traded down 1.72% at $156.38. The stock’s 52-week range is $150.50 to $199.21. Trading volume was about 35% below the daily average of around 5.4 million shares. Analyst firm Stifel lowered its 2015 earnings estimate for Big Blue from $16 to $15.17.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) traded down 1.13% at $46.66. The stock’s 52-week range is $34.63 to $50.05. Trading volume is about 40% below the daily average of around 31.5 million shares. The world’s largest software company had no specific news today.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 20 are set to close lower today and 10 are on track to close higher.

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