Dow stocks at 52 week highs include Disney (DIS), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), 3M (MMM) and Travelers (TRV). There are no Dow stock 52 week lows.

The Market

Premarket today, the Dow was indicated to open up +49 points.

Thursday, the Dow closed up +98.58 (+0.59%) at 16,836.11.

Year-to-date the Dow is up +1.57%.

Big Dow stock gainers yesterday included Caterpillar (CAT) +2.54%, Microsoft (MSFT) +2.21% and JPMorgan (JPM) +1.71%..

Big Dow stock losers yesterday were UnitedHealth (UNH) -0.88%, Nike (NKE) -0.34% and Home Depot (HD) -0.20%. And these were the only losers yesterday.

The Dow and S&P 500 both closed a new all time highs.

Analysts at FBR Capital upgraded Microsoft (MSFT) to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target raised to $49 from a previous $43. Shares gained 2.21 percent yesterday, closing at $41.21.

Analysts at Belus Capital initiated coverage of Wal-Mart (WMT) with a Sell rating and $71 price target. Shares gained 0.25 percent yesterday, closing at $77.32.

Microsoft (MSFT) will lower the prices of its tablets and smartphones to stay competitive and gain market share. The company will offer certain Windows phones for under $200. Shares gained 2.21 percent yesterday, closing at $41.21.

The jobs report said a total of 217K jobs were created in the economy, modestly ahead of consensus estimates for 200,000 jobs. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.3%. The economy finally recouped the 8.7 million jobs lost during the recession. Employment has risen by 8.8 million since hitting a trough in February 2010.

European stocks were higher and Asian markets ended mostly lower.

The national average price of gasoline is down two-tenths of a cent at $3.658 per gallon.

Earnings Reports.

There are no Dow stocks set to report earnings until Nike reports in late June.

Notable earnings reports from Thursday include:

Joy Global (JOY) reported second quarter EPS of $0.76 on revenue of $930.00 million, compared to last year’s EPS of $1.73 on revenue of $1.36 billion.

JM Smucker Company (SJM) reported fourth quarter EPS of $1.21, compared to last year’s EPS of $1.29 on revenue of $1.34 billion.

UTi Worldwide (UTIW) reported a first quarter loss of $0.43 on revenue of $l.04 billion, compared to last year’s loss of $0.02 on revenue of $1.08 billion.

Thor Industries THO) reported third quarter EPS of $1.03 on revenue of $1.05 billion, compared to last year’s EPS of $0.92 on revenue of $1.05 billion.

Stocks reporting earnings today include:

Nothing notable today.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ)

Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) is up +0.28% year-to-date.

Financial Calendar

0830 ET May non-farm payrolls expected +215,000, Apr +288,000. May private payrolls expected +210,000, Apr +273,000. May manufacturing payrolls expected +10,000, Apr +12,000. May unemployment rate expected +0.1 to 6.4%, Apr -0.4 to 6.3%.

0830 ET May avg hourly earnings expected +0.2% m/m and +2.0% y/y, Apr unch m/m and +1.9% y/y. May avg weekly hours all employees expected unch at 34.5 hours.

1500 ET Apr consumer credit expected +$15.0 billion, Mar +$17.529 billion.