General Electric record its worst daily decline since April 2009 but that didn’t stop the Dow Jones Industrial Average from booking a gain on Monday. That’s because the the more than 7% drop in shares of GE , the 125-year-old conglomerate, equates to about a 10-point drop in the price-weighted Dow . In other words, a $1 move in anyone of the Dow’s 30 components equates to a 6.89-point swing in the equity benchmark. That price weighting places emphasis on a company’s share price– $19.02 for GE- rather than, say, market value. GE boasts a market value of about $165 billion, after shedding about $10 billion in Monday trade. It also is the worst performer so far this year among the Dow’s components. GE’s downturn on Monday, however, was outweighed by gains in McDonald’s Corp. , Home Depot Inc. and Boeing Co. , which all trade at a share price well over $100. GE’s decline come as the company undergoes a drastic restructuring, including cutting its divided in half, under new CEO John Flannery. Overall, the Dow ended the session up about 17 points, or 0.1%, at 23,439, snapping a two-session skid. The S&P 500 index gained 0.1% at 2,584, while the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.1% at 6,757.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
From:: Stock Market News