Dow stocks at 52 week highs include UnitedHealth (UNH). There are no Dow stock 52 week lows.

The Market

Wednesday the Dow closed up +135.54 (+0.89%) at 15,326.60.

Year-to-date the Dow is up +16.96%..

This morning the Dow was indicated to open up +5 points.

The number of new U.S. jobless claims fell sharply last week, however much of the decline appeared due to technical problems in claims processing, clouding the last major reading of labor market health before a Federal Reserve meeting. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits droppeded 31,000 to a seasonally adjusted 292,000, according to the Labor Department. That was the lowest level of claims since 2006, going against analysts’ expectations for a mild increase. The majority of the decline appeared to be because two states were upgrading their computer systems and did not process all the claims they received during the week. One of the states was large and the other small.

Yesterday, Verizon (VZ) held the largest ever bond offering which raised $49 billion , eclipsing by far Apple’s (AAPL) previous record of $17 billion. The cash raised will go towards Verizon’s $130 billion buyout of Vodafone’s stake in their joint venture, Verizon Wireless.

European markets are mixed and Asian markets ended mixed.

The national average price of gasoline is down eight-tenths of a cent to $3.550 per gallon.

Earnings Reports

There are no Dow stocks expected to report earnings soon.

Earnings reports from Wednesday include:

Men’s Wearhouse, Inc. (MW) reported second quarter EPS of $1.01 on revenue of $647.30 million, compared to last year’s EPS of $1.15 on revenue of $662.30 million.

Vera Bradley, Inc. (VRA) reported second quarter EPS of $0.37 on revenue of $125.40 million, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.33 on revenue of $123.04 million.

Other stocks expected to report earnings today include:

Kroger Company (KR) is expected to report EPS of $0.60 on revenue of $22.67 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.51 on revenue of $21.73 billion.

Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU) is expected to report EPS of $0.35 on revenue of $343.10 million, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.39 on revenue of $282.63 million.

United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) is expected to report EPS of $0.60 on revenue of $1.63 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.51 on revenue of $1.34 billion.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO).

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) is down +24.05% year-to-date.

Financial Calendar

0830 ET Weekly initial unemployment claims expected +7,000 to 330,000, previous -9,000 to 323,000. Weekly continuing claims expected +9,000 to 2.960 million, previous -43,000 to 2.951 million.

0830 ET Aug import price index expected +0.5% m/m and +0.4% y/y, July +0.2% m/m and +1.0% y/y.

0830 ET USDA weekly Export Sales.

0900 ET New York Fed President William Dudley speaks on a panel in Paris at an event title Four years after Pittsburgh. What has OTC derivatives reform achieved so far?

1100 ET Treasury announces amount of 10-year TIPS to be auctioned Sep 19.

1200 ET Sep WASE crop production report.

1300 ET Treasury auctions $13 billion 30-year T-bonds.

1400 ET Aug monthly budget statement expected -$150.0 billion, July -$97.594 billion.