Dow stocks at 52 week highs include Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Merck (MRK) and Exxon Mobil (XOM). There are no Dow stock 52 week lows.

The Market

Premarket today, the Dow was indicated to open down -5 points.

Tuesday, the Dow closed up +86.63 (+0.53%) at 16,535.37.

Year-to-date the Dow is down -0.25%.

The Fed finishes a two-day policy meeting today with a decision on interest rates at 2 p.m. ET. It is expected that the central bank will reduce its asset purchases by another $10 billion.

General Electric (GE) made a bid of $13.5 billion to take over the French company Alstom (ALSMY) power divisions.

Private sector employment increased by 220,000 jobs from March to April according to the April ADP National Employment Report.

European stocks were mixed and Asian stocks ended mixed.

The national average price of gasoline is down two-tenths of a cent at $3.691 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) reported earnings on 4/17/2014 before the market open of $1.58/share, meeting consensus.

General Electric (GE) reported earnings on 4/17/2014 before the market open of $0.36/share, beating consensus of $0.32/share.

Goldman Sachs reported earnings on 4/17/2014 before the market open of $4.02/share, beating consensus of $3.44/share.

UnitedHealth (UNH) reported earnings on 4/17/2014 before the market open of $1.10/share, narrowly beating consensus of $1.093/share.

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.

Exxon Mobil (XOM) will report earnings on 5/1/14 before the market open.

Chevron (CVX) will report earnings on 5/2/14 before the market open.

Pfizer (PFE) will report earnings on 5/5/14 before the market open.

Walt Disney (DIS) will report earnings on 5/6/14 after the market close.

Notable earnings reports from Tuesday include:

Express Scripts Holding Company (ESRX) reported first quarter EPS of $0.99, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.99 on revenue of $26.06 billion.

Merck & Company, Inc. (MRK) reported first quarter EPS of $0.88, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.85 on revenue of $10.67 billion.

Nokia Corporation (NOK) reported first quarter EPS of $0.03, compared to last year’s loss of $0.03 on revenue of $7.72 billion.

Valero Energy Corporation (VLO) reported first quarter EPS of $1.54, compared to last year’s EPS of $1.18 on revenue of $33.47 billion.

Stocks reporting earnings today include:

GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) is expected to report first quarter EPS of $0.72, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.82.

Thomson Reuters Corp (TRI) is expected to report first quarter EPS of $0.39, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.38.

Time Warner Inc. (TWX) is expected to report first quarter EPS of $0.88, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.82.

WellPoint Inc. (WLP) is expected to report first quarter EPS of $2.12, compared to last year’s EPS of $2.94.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

Chevron Corp. (CVX)

Chevron Corp. (CVX) is up +0.85% year-to-date.

Financial Calendar

0700 ET Weekly MBA mortgage applications, previous -3.3% with purchase sub-index -2.6% and refi sub-index -3.7%.

0815 ET Apr ADP employment change expected +210,000, Mar +191,000.

0830 ET Q1 employment cost index expected +0.5%, Q4 +0.5%.

0830 ET Q1 GDP expected +1.2% (q/q annualized), Q4 +2.6%. Q1 personal consumption expected +2.0%, Q4 +3.3%. Q1 GDP price index expected +1.6%, Q4 +1.6%, Q1 core PCE deflator expected +1.2%, Q4 +1.3%.

0900 ET Treasury announces amounts of 3-year T-notes (previous $30 billion), 10-year T-notes (previous $21 billion) and 30-year T-bonds (previous $13 billion) to be auctioned in the Treasurys quarterly refunding May 6-8.

0945 ET Apr Chicago PMI expected +1.1 to 57.0, Mar -3.9 to 55.9.

1030 ET EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report.

1400 ET FOMC announces policy decision. QE3 expected to be cut by another $10 billion to $45 billion ($25 bln of Treasuries, $20 bln of MBS). Federal funds rate target range of zero to 0.25% expected unchanged.

1530 ET Former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks at the Brookings Institute on Liquidity and the Role of the Lender of Last Resort.