October 1, 2014: Markets opened lower on Wednesday as manufacturing PMI numbers out of Europe were weaker than expected. That was just the beginning: the ISM manufacturing index came in weak and consumer confidence fell. The DJIA crossed the 200-point threshold and kept falling to lose around 250 points today. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded down 1.22% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 1.15%, and the Nasdaq Composite down 1.40%.

The Dow 30 stock posting the largest percentage loss ahead of the close today was Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), but with a share price in the mid-$30s, it’s impact was far less compared with four higher-priced stocks.

The highest-priced stock among the Dow 30, Visa Inc. (NYSE: V), traded lower today by 1.26% at $210.76. The stock’s 52-week range is $180.11 to $235.50. Volume was about 15% below the daily average of around 2.4 million shares. The company had no news today, but financial sector stocks dropped about 1.2% today.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) traded down 1.23% at $187.48. The stock’s 52-week range is $172.19 to $199.21. Trading volume was about 30% below the daily average of around 3.3 million shares. The company’s sale of its low-end server business to Lenovo completed its initial closing earlier today. IBM is the second-most expensive stock among the Dow 30.

The third-most costly DJIA stock is The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) which traded down 1.54% today at $180.74. The stock’s 52-week range is $151.65 to $188.58. The company had no specific news today, but got caught up in the dive of financial stocks. Volume was about 35% above the daily average of 2.5 million shares.

The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) traded down 2.03% at $124.79 in a 52-week range of $116.65 to $147.87. Volume was about equal to the daily average of about 2.1 million shares. The FAA yesterday gave airlines 5 years to replace cockpit displays on 1,300 Boeing 737 and 777 aircraft to avoid interference with WiFi and cellular devices. The cost is more than $1,000 per plane according to Reuters.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 29 stocks are set to close lower today, and just 1 is on track to close higher.

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