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May 15, 2015: Markets opened higher on Friday but the major indexes slipped into negative territory and all traded lower for most of the day except for occasional forays above the break-even line. Gold settled up more than 3% for the week and crude oil closed lower for the day but extended to 9 its streak of consecutive weekly price gains. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded down 0.02% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 0.01%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 0.13%.
The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage loss  ahead of the close Friday was Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) which traded down 1.30%% at $48.09. The stock’s 52-week range is $39.27 to $50.05. Trading volume was about 45% below the daily average of around 37.6 million shares. The company gave back nearly half its Thursday gain today.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) traded lower by 0.65% at $69.54. The stock’s 52-week range is $48.80 to $70.69. Trading volume was about 35% below the daily average of around 8.9 million shares. Talk that the credit card issuer may be looking to acquire its former European subsidiary may be cooling of investor interest in the stock.

The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) traded down 0.70% at $146.93. The stock’s 52-week range is $116.32 to $158.83. Trading volume was about 35% below the daily average of around 4.2 million shares. The Pentagon said today that it expects to award the long-range strike (B-3) contract in a month or two. Boeing and Lockheed are the primary competitors for the new bomber.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) traded down 0.73% at $80.16. The stock’s 52-week range is $76.53 to $96.24. Trading volume was about half the daily average of around 7.6 million shares. The company had no specific news today.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 14 are set to close lower today and 16 are on track to close higher.

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