Chevron Corporation (CVX), Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ): Another Down Day on Wall Street

This morning it seemed as if today would be uneventful. The market was calm as investors held their breath ahead of tomorrow’s unemployment data. But around noon EDT the markets took a nosedive, and as of 12:55 p.m. EDT the Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost 95 points, or 0.63%. The S&P 500 is down 0.49%, while the Nasdaq is lower by 0.55%. The jobless-claims number that came out this morning was not enough to investors buying. The number of claims fell 11,000 from last week to 346,000 — right in line with expectations.

A few Dow losers
Shares of Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) are 2.2%, making it the Dow’s worst performer as of this writing. Since the price of crude oil is moving higher and there is little news regarding the company today, the likely cause for the decline is yesterday’s Barclays downgrade. The analyst downgraded Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) shares from “overweight” to “equal weight.” Additionally the price target was lowered from $145 to $133. The main reasons cited for the change were valuation concerns and capital expenditures.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) could also be experiencing a downgrade hangover today as shares drop 1.7%. Yesterday analysts from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) claimed that the company would likely report lower-than-expected results for the coming quarter because of weak PC sales around the world. Additionally, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and Bernstein Research reiterated their sell-equivalent ratings due to the flagging PC market.

These reports may also be having an effect on Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) today: Shares of the partially PC-reliant company are down 1.6%. Some would argue that HP is not really a PC company anymore. However, while the company receives a large amount of its revenue from areas besides PC sales, at the end of the day Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) still needs to sell personal computers if it wants to stay alive. A large part of CEO Meg Whitman’s strategy is lowering the company’s reliance on that industry, but HP is only 18 months into a five-year turnaround plan.

The article Another Down Day on Wall Street originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Matt Thalman has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Chevron and Intel. The Motley Fool owns shares of Intel. Check back Monday through Friday as Matt explains what caused the Dow’s winners and losers of the day, and every Saturday for a weekly recap. Follow Matt on Twitter: @mthalman5513.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.