The Dow Jones Industrial Average tried to rebound on Thursday from its 10-day slide. That losing streak, capped by a Federal Reserve-spurred meltdown on Wednesday, was the 30-stock, blue-chip index's longest decline since 1974.

Only a few Dow Jones stocks came out of the punishing period holding gains. The unscathed handful included Boeing (BA), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) and Coca-Cola (KO).

10 Biggest Dow Jones Stock Laggards

Here are the 10 biggest losers of the Dow's worst stretch of declines in decades:

UnitedHealth (UNH) was the biggest Dow Jones stock laggard, sinking 18.2% from the Dec. 4 close to the close on Dec. 18. Shares of health insurers operating pharmacy benefit managers suffered broadly after President-elect Donald Trump threatened to "knock out the middleman" in the drug industry. UnitedHealth was already under pressure from the fatal shooting of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth's insurance unit, earlier in December.

Nvidia (NVDA), which practically tied with Sherwin-Williams (SHW) as the second biggest Dow Jones loser, reeled from reports about intensifying AI chip competition, including from Broadcom (AVGO) and Marvell Technologies (MRVL). The leading artificial intelligence chipmaker's price decline steepened after Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Satya Nadella indicated that the AI chip frenzy may be easing. Microsoft is one of Nvidia's largest customers.

Sherwin-Williams felt the blues from a rotation out of cyclical names. The paint maker and other cyclical stocks got a boost from Donald Trump's U.S. election win in November.

But cyclical names — including Travelers (TRV), Chevron (CVX), Caterpillar (CAT) and Goldman Sachs (GS) — are sensitive to economic data. The Dow's 10-day losing streak coincided with fresh concerns about the economy. Data reported during this 10-day period showed a rise in jobless claims.

Besides, the markets are growing more skittish about incoming President Trump's uncertain — and possibly inflationary — tax and tariff policies. The Fed signaled a slower pace of rate cuts on Wednesday, socking stocks at large. The Dow Jones index suffered its worst one-day decline since August. The Nasdaq composite took its largest single-day loss since July.

Investors Aren't Hitting The Panic Button

Investors appeared to shrug off the Dow's 10-day losing streak early on Thursday. Indeed, there are reasons for optimism. Corporate earnings remain solid. Earnings compounders still abound, with Nvidia stock bearing an IBD Composite Rating of 97, out of a best-possible 99.

But Wednesday's action cut sharply below the Dow's 50-day moving average. The S&P 500 cut below its 21-day and 50-day moving averages. The Nasdaq undercut its 21-day line. Both indexes saw rising volume, adding a distribution day for each index. IBD lowered its Stock Market Exposure recommendation to 60% to 80%, from 80% to 100%.

On Thursday, jobless data showed claims fell sharply last week after a big increase the prior week. The Dow Jones average pared its early, almost 1%, gain to 0.3%. It is now up about 13% for the year.

Please follow Aparna Narayanan on X @IBD_Aparna for more coverage.

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