The Dow Jones futures pared earlier gains as investors continued to worry about Coronavirus. The blue-chip index, is headed for its worst month since 2008 and its worst quarter since 1987. It has declined by more than 12% this month and by more than 27% this quarter.
Worst Performing Dow Stocks
The declines this month were led by Boeing, the troubled jet manufacturer. The company started the month with myriad of problems that started last year when the Ethiopian airlines crashed. The company has also been affected by the current Coronavirus crisis, which has made many airlines struggle. As a result, there is a likelihood that many of them will cancel their orders. Boeing is down more than 45% this month and 54% this year.
Other worst performers in the Dow were ExxonMobil and Chevron, which declined by more than 20% in March. The two companies have been affected by a more than 50% decline of oil prices. Other losers were United Technologies, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.
Best Performing Dow Stocks
The best-performing Dow stocks were Walmart, Intel, and Cisco. Walmart rose because the company saw many shoppers as people started to pile in household stocks. Intel and Cisco rose because more people started working at home leading to higher demand for cloud computing products. Other best-performing stocks in the Dow were Verizon, Johnson & Johnson, and Microsoft, which dropped by about 2%.
The main positive news for today are that oil prices are up, China manufacturing PMI rose, and the Trump administration is considering another stimulus package.
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Dow Jones Technical Analysis
The Dow Jones is trading at $22,211 as of 13:00 GMT. On the daily chart, the index has been forming an ascending triangle pattern. Curiously, this triangle is nearing its tip as the quarter is ending. The implication is that we will see a big breakout as the new quarter starts. If the downward prevails and the index moves below today’s support of $$22,130, I expect it to test the yesterday’s low of $21,000. On the other hand, if the upside prevails, expect the index to test the important swing of $23,000.