Retirement for the Big Guy

The long-time richest man in the world announced his two-year plan to step down as Microsoft's chief software architect. Bill Gates will remain as the company's chairman, but wants to start a daily routine at his non-profit foundation. Along with this, Microsoft announced today a practice of backdating options was used in the 1990's. These two announcements, although not negatively affecting Microsoft stock, had a slightly negative effect on the market. Trading slightly dwindled today as investors weighed Microsoft's news and Oracle's earnings pre-announcement. In the last hour of trading, the Dow went from 8 points up to less than a point down. But with the weekend approaching and the market much more stable, I can't wait to test my new hammock! DJIA: -0.64 Nasdaq: -14.20 S&P 500: -4.62