Dow Today: Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Leads The Day Higher, Bank Of America Corporation (BAC) Lags

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) is trading down 85.0 points (-0.7%) at 12,858 as of Friday, Jul 20, 2012, 9:35 a.m. ET. During this time, 87.2 million shares of the 30 Dow components have changed hands vs. an average daily trading volume of 680.1 million. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 594 issues advancing vs. 2,077 declining with 139 unchanged.

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The Dow component leading the way higher looks to be Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq:MSFT), which is sporting a 30-cent gain (+1%) bringing the stock to $30.97. Volume for Microsoft Corporation currently sits at 11.3 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 44.3 million shares.

Microsoft Corporation has a market cap of $255.81 billion and is part of the technology sector and computer software & services industry. Shares are up 18.1% year to date as of Thursday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 2.6%.

Microsoft Corporation develops, licenses, and supports a range of software products and services for various computing devices worldwide. The company has a P/E ratio of 11.2, equal to the average computer software & services industry P/E ratio and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates Microsoft Corporation as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, attractive valuation levels, expanding profit margins and good cash flow from operations. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income.

• You can view the full Microsoft Ratings Report.

Holding back the Dow today is Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC), which is lagging the broader Dow index with a 12-cent decline (-1.7%) bringing the stock to $7.14. This single loss is lowering the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 0.91 points or roughly accounting for 1.1% of the Dow's overall loss. Volume for Bank of America Corporation currently sits at 16.5 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 177.2 million shares.

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Bank of America Corporation has a market cap of $81.15 billion and is part of the financial sector and banking industry. Shares are up 30.6% year to date as of Thursday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 0.5%.

Bank of America Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides various banking and financial products and services to individual consumers, small-and middle-market businesses, institutional investors, corporations, and governments in the United States and internationally. The company has a P/E ratio of 5.9, below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates Bank of America Corporation as a hold. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its expanding profit margins and notable return on equity. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including unimpressive growth in net income, generally poor debt management and weak operating cash flow.

• You can view the full Bank of America Ratings Report.

For more information on Dow Jones Industrial Average click any of the following:

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