On Wednesday, meanwhile, JPMorgan fell nearly twice as far as the other banks because of a report that the officials investigating the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme are now looking into the bank and its role in the situation. As of now, it’s unclear whether the bank completely followed the law when it comes to filing all the proper documents with regulatory agencies. If it excluded documents that may have helped regulators uncover the Ponzi scheme sooner, the bank will be in a world of hurt and will probably have to pay some hefty fines.
In other news, shares of Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) lost 1.94%, coming during a week when the company’s board of directors imposed some financial penalties on Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX)’s top management team for an unsatisfactory safety record in 2012. The company was plagued with problems this past year — a small oil leak from a burst pipeline in Utah, another oil leak in Brazil, a fire that burned for weeks off the coast of Nigeria, and another fire at the refinery at Richmond, Calif.
The board’s decision to reduce compensation over these issues should serve as much-needed a kick in the pants to Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX)’s top brass. As we saw with the BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP) Gulf oil spill, one big mistake can hurt a company for years, not just months or days.
Another big loser this week was General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) which saw its shares decline 1.07%. It was a rather quiet week for GE, but on Monday, Bloomberg reported that if Blackstone steps in to help take Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) private, Dell Financial may be sold to GE. Whether GE would want it is unknown, but the company could probably incorporate it easily into the GE financial arm. While the deal would perhaps make sense for all parties, my biggest concern at this point would be how much liability the acquisition would tack on to GE’s current $414 billion in debt.
Other Dow losers this week were 3M Co (NYSE:MMM), which closed lower by 0.1%; The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), down 0.27%; Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT), down 0.58%; DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc. (NYSE:DFT), down 0.22%; and United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX), down 0.17%.
The article Last Week’s Big Dow Losers originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Matt Thalman owns shares of Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. Check back Monday through Friday as Matt explains what caused the Dow’s winners and losers of the day, and every Saturday for a weekly recap. Follow Matt on Twitter: @mthalman5513.
The Motley Fool recommends 3M, Chevron, Procter & Gamble, and UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) and owns shares of Bank of America, General Electric, and JPMorgan Chase.
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