Cisco, Intel, Microsoft: Dow Movers

NEW YORK (TheStreet) '" U.S. stocks fell Thursday as concerns about a global economic slowdown weighed on investor sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 31 points, or 0.25%, to close at 12,573.

Breadth within the Dow was negative with 22 of the 30 components posting losses. Tech heavyweights Cisco (CSCO), Intel (INTC) and Microsoft (MSFT) posted the biggest percentage declines.

Shares of Cisco dropped 2.44% to $15.98. The stock has fallen 11.62% year to date.

Intel shares lost 2.56% to $24.74. The stock has risen 2.02% year to date.

Shares of Microsoft fell 2.29% to $28.63. The stock has risen 10.29% year to date.

The biggest percentage gainers were Merck (MRK) and Procter & Gamble (PG), both up about 4%.

Shares of Merck gained 4.13% to $42.91 after the drug giant concluded a late-stage trial of an osteoporosis drug because of the study's strong results.

"The Data Monitoring Committee (DMC) for the study recently completed its first planned interim analysis for efficacy and recommended that the study be closed early due to robust efficacy and a favorable benefit-risk profile," the Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based company said in a press release. Merck now plans to file applications for regulatory approval of the drug in the United States, European Union and Japan in the first half of 2013.

Citigroup upgraded Merck to buy with a $50 price target following the news.

Shares of P&G jumped 3.75% to $63.70 following media reports that Bill Ackman's Pershing Square investment firm is building a stake in the consumer products giant.

--Written by Alexandra Zendrian in New York.



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