There are no Dow stocks at 52 week highs. There are no Dow stock 52 week lows.

The Market

Thursday the Dow closed up +55.04 (+0.36%) at 15,328.30.

Premarket, the Dow was indicated to open down -56 points.

Year-to-date the Dow is up +16.97%.

The Dow and S&P 500 are about 2% from the record highs hit just last week.

Bank of America (BAC) and Goldman Sachs (GS) were both downgraded to “Neutral” from “Buy” at Guggenheim.

The NY Times reports that the Justice Department has asked JPMorgan Chase (JPM) to pay a higher fine for questionable mortgage practices than the roughly $7 billion that it has offered to pay.

Nike (NKE) shares are up premarket after it reported Q1 EPS of 86 cents, stronger than consensus of 78 cents.

European markets are lower and Asian markets ended mostly higher.

The national average price of gasoline is down 1.2 cents to $3.422 per gallon.

Earnings Reports

Nike, Inc. (NKE) reported first quarter EPS of $0.86 on revenue of $6.97 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.64 on revenue of $6.47 billion.

Former Dow stock Alcoa (AA) will report earnings on 10/8/13 after the market close.

Earnings reports from Thursday include:

Accenture plc. (ACN) reported fourth quarter EPS of $1.01 on revenue of $7.09 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.88 on revenue of $6.84 billion.

McCormick & Company (MKC) reported third quarter EPS of $0.78 on revenue of $1.02 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.78 on revenue of $977.70 million.

Other stocks expected to report earnings today include:

BlackBerry (BBBY) is expected to report a loss of $0.15 per share on revenue of $3.06 billion, compared to last year’s loss of $0.27 per share on revenue of $2.87 billion.

Vail Resorts, Inc. (MTN) is expected to report a loss of $1.70 on revenue of $118.90 million, compared to last year’s loss of $1.50 on revenue of $113.54 million.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

Merck & Co Inc. (MRK).

Merck & Co Inc. (MRK) is up +16.46 year-to-date.

Financial Calendar

0545 ET Chicago Fed President Charles Evans speaks on current economic conditions and monetary policy at the Norges Bank Conference in Oslo, Norway.

0830 ET Aug personal spending expected +0.3%, July +0.1%. Aug personal income expected +0.4%, July +0.1%. Aug PCE deflator expected +0.1% m/m and +1.2% y/y, July +0.1% m/m and +1.4% y/y. Aug PCE core deflator expected +0.1% m/m and +1.3% y/y, July +0.1% m/m and +1.2% y/y.

0830 ET Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren delivers opening remarks at a conference on stable funding at the New York Fed.

0955 ET Final U.S. Sep University of Michigan consumer confidence expected +1.2 to 78.0, previous -5.3 to 76.8.

1015 ET Chicago Fed President Charles Evans speaks as part of a panel discussion titled Monetary and Macroprudential Policies Going Forward at the Norges Bank Conference in Oslo, Norway.

1400 ET New York Fed President William Dudley speaks at an event in New York on national and regional economic conditions.

1500 ET Q3 Quarterly Hogs & Pigs.