Dow stocks at 52 week highs include Intel (INTC) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). There are no Dow stock 52 week lows.

The Market

Premarket today, the Dow was indicated to open up +15 points.

Wednesday, the Dow closed up +162.29 (+1.00%) at 16,424.85.

Year-to-date the Dow is down -0.92%.

American Express (AXP) reported Q1 EPS of $1.33, higher than consensus of $1.30.

General Electric (GE) reported Q1 EPS of 33 cents, better than consensus of 32 cents.

International Business Machines (IBM) shares are down nearly 4% in premarket trading after it reported Q1 adjusted EPS of $2.54, right on consensus, although Q1 revenue of $22.50 billion was below consensus of $22.91 billion.

The Labor Department today reported that jobless claims increased by 2,000 to 304,000 in the week ended April 12 from a revised 302,000 the prior period that was the lowest since September 2007. The median forecast called for an increase to 315,000. The total number of people receiving benefits fell to the lowest since the last recession began. The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, dropped to 312,000, the lowest since October 2007, from 316,750 the week before.

The main U.S. market indexes have rallied by roughly 2.5% over the past week.

My favorite indicator is flashing a buy this morning and I may get long again as long as my indicators don’t turn tail before the close. That said I probably won’t fully commit at this buy signal as it is not as committed as the 2/7/14 entry point was. Neither was the signal on 4/1/14 that ultimately failed. (And the markets are down now 6:50 am PDT) You know, it might be better to wait until Monday to buy back in. I guess I’m on the fence.

This is the last trading day of the week with the Good Friday holiday tomorrow.

European stocks are lower and Asian stocks ended mixed.

The national average price of gasoline is up four-tenths of a cent to $3.657 per gallon.

Earnings Reports.

JPMorgan (JPM) reported earnings on 4/11/2014 before the market open of $1.28/share below consensus of $1.41/share.

Coca Cola (KO) reported earnings on 4/15/2014 before the market open of $0.44/share, meeting consensus.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) reported earnings on 4/15/2014 before the market open of $1.54/share, beating consensus of $1.48/share.

Intel (INTC) reported earnings on 4/15/2014 after the market close $0.38/share beating consensus of $0.37/share.

American Express (AXP) reported earnings on 4/16/2014 after the market close of $1.33/share beating consensus of $1.30/share.

International Business Machines (IBM) reported earnings on 4/16/2014 after the market close of $2.54/share, meeting consensus.

Dupont (DD) will report earnings on 4/17/2014 before the market open.

General Electric (GE) will report earnings on 4/17/2014 before the market open.

Goldman Sachs will report earnings on 4/17/2014 before the market open.

UnitedHealth (UNH) will report earnings on 4/17/2014 before the market open.

McDonalds (MCD) will report earnings on 4/22/14 before the market open.

Travelers (TRV) will report earnings on 4/22/14 before the market open.

United Technologies (UTX) will report earnings on 4/22/14 before the market open.

AT&T (T) will report earnings on 4/22/14 after the market close.

Boeing (BA) will report earnings on 4/23/14 before the market open.

Procter & Gamble (PG) will report earnings on 4/23/14 before the market open.

Caterpillar (CAT) will report earnings on 4/24/14 before the market open.

3M (MMM) will report earnings on 4/24/14 before the market open.

Verizon VZ will report earnings on 4/24/14 before the market open.

Micrososft (MSFT) will report earnings on 4/24/14 after the market close.

Visa (V) will report earnings on 4/24/14 after the market close.

Merck (MRK) will report earnings on 4/29/14 before the market open.

Notable earnings reports from Wednesday include:

American Express Company (AXP) reported first quarter EPS of $1.15, compared to last year’s EPS of $1.15 on revenue of $7.88 billion.

International Business Machines (IBM) reported first quarter EPS of $3.00, compared to last year’s EPS of $3.00 on revenue of $23.41 billion.

Bank Of America Corporation (BAC) reported a first quarter loss of $0.05, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.10 on revenue of $23.50 billion.

Google Inc. (GOOG) reported first quarter EPS of $10.00, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.23 on revenue of $503.85 million.

Stocks reporting earnings today include:

General Electric Company (GE) is expected to report first quarter EPS of $0.32 on revenue of $34.55 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.39 on revenue of $35.01 billion.

Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) is expected to report first quarter EPS of $3.60 on revenue of $8.83 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $4.29 on revenue of $10.09 billion.

Morgan Stanley (MS) is expected to report first quarter EPS of $0.62 on revenue of $8.69 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.61 on revenue of $8.48 billion.

Pepsico, Inc. (PEP) is expected to report first quarter EPS of $0.75 on revenue of $12.43 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.77 on revenue of $12.58 billion.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

Visa Inc. (V)

Visa Inc. (V) is down -5.98% year-to-date.

Financial Calendar

0830 ET Weekly initial unemployment claims expected +15,000 to 315,000, previous -32,000 to 300,000. Weekly continuing claims expected +2,000 to 2.778 million, previous -62,000 to 2.776 million.

0830 ET USDA weekly Export Sales.

1000 ET Apr Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index expected +1.0 to 10.0, Mar +15.3 to 9.0.

1100 ET Treasury announces amounts of 2-year T-notes (previous $32 billion), 5-year T-notes (previous $35 billion) and 7-year T-notes (previous $29 billion) to be auctioned Apr 22-24.

1300 ET Treasury auctions $18 billion 5-year TIPS.