A look at stock market highs and lows in 2011
22.05.12
— McDonald’s Corp., up 31 percent. The burger chain has remodeled stores and added healthier items to menus in the U.S. while expanding abroad.
— IBM Corp., up 25 percent. The 100-year-old tech company sells high-margin software and technology services that can help corporations and governments cut costs.
— Pfizer Inc., up 24 percent. The world’s largest drugmaker has been advancing new drugs to offset generic competition for Lipitor, the biggest-selling drug in history.
WORST OF THE DOW
— Bank of America Corp., down 58 percent. One of the country’s largest financial institutions is still dealing with fallout from the housing meltdown.
— Alcoa Inc., down 44 percent. The aluminum producer is a barometer for the health of the global economy. Investors worried about a slowdown in China and a prolonged debt crisis in Europe.
— Hewlett-Packard Co., down 39 percent. The PC and printer maker struggled with executive dysfunction and indecisiveness on whether to sell its low-margin PC business.
Source: Washington Post (blog)