Dow stocks at 52 week highs include Caterpillar (CAT) and Intel (INTC).There are no Dow stock 52 week lows.

The Market

Premarket today, the Dow was indicated to open down -32 points.

Wednesday the Dow was up +112.58 (+0.62%) at 18,281.03.

Year-to-date the Dow is up +4.91%.

There were 21 Dow stocks up Wednesday.

The Dow stock winners Wednesday were led by Goldman Sachs (GS) +2.55% and Caterpillar (CAT) +2.18%.

The Dow stock losers Wednesday were led by Verizon (VZ) -0.81% and Home Depot (HD) -0.48%.

Jobless claims dropped by 5,000 to 249,000 in the week ended Oct. 1. That’s just above the four-decade low of 248,000 from April this year. The median forecast called for 256,000.

Wal-Mart (WMT) on Thursday reiterated its guidance for the current fiscal year, and said it expects next year’s earnings to come in relatively flat as it invests more in digital and technology.

Oil climbed above $50 a barrel in New York for the first time since June as declines in U.S. crude inventories and OPEC’s pledge to reduce supply raises hopes the global glut may clear.

And of course, this Friday we get The Jobs Report where 174,000 additional jobs are expected.

European stocks are mostly higher and Asian markets ended higher.

The national average price of gasoline is up 1.3 cents at $2.246 per gallon.

Earnings Reports.

Nike (NKE) reported earnings on 9/27/2016 after the market close of $0.73, beating consensus of $0.556 per share.

JPMorgan (JPM) reports earnings on 10/17/2016 before the market open.

IBM (IBM) reports earnings on 10/14/2016 after the market close.

Goldman Sachs (GS) reports earnings on 10/18/2016 before the market open.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) reports earnings on 10/18/2016 before the market open.

Intel (INTC) reports earnings on 10/18/2016 before the market open.

UnitedHealth (UNH) reports earnings on 10/18/2016 before the market open.

American Express (AXP) reports earnings on 10/19/2016 after the market close.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

Travelers (TRV)

Travelers (TRV) is UP +0.21 year-to-date.

Financial Calendar

0730 ET Sep Challenger job cuts, Aug -21.8% y/y.

0830 ET Weekly initial unemployment claims expected +2,000 to 256,000, previous +3,000 to 254,000. Weekly continuing claims expected +19,000 to 2.081 million, previous -46,000 to 2.062 million.

0830 ET USDA weekly Export Sales.

1100 ET Treasury announces amount of 3-year T-notes (previous $24 billion), 10-year T-notes (previous $20 billion) and 30-year T-bonds (previous $12 billion) to be auctioned Oct 12-13.

n/a G-20 finance ministers and central bankers meet in Washington D.C.