Dow Ends Historic Week Up More Than 2%: Pfizer Inc. (PFE), Intel Corporation (INTC)

The Dow Jones Industrial Average 2 Minute (Dow Jones Indices:.DJI) gained more than 300 points, or 2.18%, this week, and set a new record high in each of the past four days. The blue-chip index rose by another 0.47% today, while the S&P 500 (S&P Indices:.INX) and the NASDAQ both closely followed, gaining 0.45% and 0.38%, respectively.

The markets forged ahead today after the Labor Department announced January’s employment numbers. While December’s numbers were revised lower, to 119,000, January posted 236,000 new jobs, when economists were only expecting 165,000. The increased job number lowered the nation’s unemployment rate to 7.7%.

But even though the markets, in general, moved higher, a number of the Dow’s 30 components ended the day in the red.

The Dow’s downers
The Dow’s drug giant Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) lost 0.28% of its value today. Shares fell after the company announced that it has ended its attempt to find a cure for hepatitis C. Pfizer, Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD), and AbbVie, each have been attempting to develop their own hepatitis C drug over the past few years. As of 24 months ago, all three companies seemed equally in contention. But Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) recently fell behind in development, as its drug failed to perform as successfully as its rivals’ offerings.

Most analysts never expected Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)’s drug to become a blockbuster, and they don’t believe this will have a major impact on the company down the road.

Both of the Dow’s big banks saw their shares fall today. Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) lost 1.55%, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) was cut down by 0.89%. Despite the fact that 18 of the 19 financial institutions passed the Federal Reserve’s latest stress test, the financial industry, as a whole, moved lower today.