HP, Alcoa, Bank of America: Dow Movers

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stocks finished Wednesday down after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the hinted that rising inflation could preclude the central bank from embarking on another round of quantitative easing.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 53.05 points, or 0.41%, to 12,952.07. The S&P 500 dropped 6.5 points to 1,365.68 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 19.87 points to 2,966.89.

Breadth within the Dow was negative with 21 of the index's 30 components posting losses.

The biggest percentage decliners among the blue chips were Hewlett-Packard(HPQ), Bank of America(BAC) and Alcoa(AA).

Hewlett-Packard shares dropped 3.32% to $25.31. The technology company is laying off about 275 people from its WebOS division, according to media reports.

HP gets a C grade and a hold rating.

Shares of Alcoa fell 1.93% to $10.17. Japanese aluminum buyers are going to increase their premiums paid to aluminum producers starting in April, Bloomberg said.

TheStreet Ratings gives Alcoa a C- grade and a hold rating.

Bank of America shares dropped 1.73% to $7.97. The bank's stock was upgraded to hold from sell by TheStreet Ratings on Wednesday.

Bank of America gets a C- grade from TheStreet Ratings.

The biggest gainer in the Dow on Wednesday was Coca-Cola(KO). Shares rose 1.47% to $69.86. This was the only stock with a gain of more than 1% on Wednesday.

--Written by Alexandra Zendrian in New York.

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