Dow stocks at 52 week highs include Disney (DIS) and United Technologies (UTX). There are no Dow stock 52 week lows.

The Market

Premarket today, the Dow was indicated to open up +9 points.

Thursday the Dow was down -42.87 (-0.21%) at 19,899.29.

Year-to-date the Dow is up +0.69%.

There were 13 Dow stocks up Thursday.

The Dow stock winners Thursday were led by Visa (V) +1.17% and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) +1.05%.

The Dow stock losers Thursday were led by Travelers (TRV) -1.60% and Exxon Mobil (XOM) -1.49%.

McDonald’s (MCD +0.18%) was downgraded to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Buy’ at UBS with a 12-month target price of $130.

Travelers (TRV -1.60%) was downgraded to ‘Underweight’ from ‘Neutral’ at Atlantic Equities LLP with a 12-month target price of $110.

US companies added 156,000 nonfarm payrolls in December, which was a bit lighter than the 175,000 expected. On the plus side, November’s payrolls number was revised up by 19,000 to 204,000. December marked the 75th straight month of job growth in the US. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.7% from 4.6% in November. This came as the labor force participation rate climbed to 62.7% from 62.6% a month ago. Average hourly earnings grew 0.4% month-over-month, which was better than the 0.3% expected. It was also a significant improvement from the 0.1% decline in November. Year-over-year, average hourly earnings climbed by 2.9%, which is the fastest pace of growth since June 2009.

European stocks are mostly higher and Asian markets ended mostly lower.

The national average price of gasoline is up six-tenths of a cent at $2.365 per gallon.

Earnings Reports.

Nike (NKE) reported earnings on 12/20/16 after the market close of $0.50, beating estimates calling for $0.431 per share.

JPMorgan (JPM) reports earnings on 1/13/2016 before the market open.

UnitedHealth (UNH) reports earnings on 1/17/2017 before the market open.

Goldman Sachs (GS) reports earnings on 1/18/2017 before the market open.

American Express (AXP) reports earnings on 1/19/2017 after the market close.

IBM (IBM) reports earnings on 1/19/2017 after the market close.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

Apple (AAPL)

Apple (AAPL) is up +0.68% year-to-date.

Financial Calendar

0830 ET Dec non-farm payrolls expected +178,000, Nov +178,000. Dec private payrolls expected +170,000, Nov +156,000. Dec manufacturing payrolls expected unch, Nov -4,000. Dec unemployment rate expected +0.1 to 4.7%, Nov -0.3 to 4.6%.

0830 ET Dec avg hourly earnings expected +0.3% m/m and +2.8% y/y, Nov -0.1% m/m and +2.5% y/y. Dec avg weekly hours all-employees expected unch at 34.4 hours, Nov unch at 34.4 hours.

0830 ET Nov trade balance expected -$44.7 billion, Oct -$42.6 billion.

0830 ET USDA weekly Export Sales.

1000 ET Nov factory orders expected -2.3%, Dec +2.7% and +0.8% ex transportation.

1115 ET Chicago Fed President Charles Evans (voter) participates in a NABE and AEA panel discussion titled Responders of First or Last Resort: Central Bank Strategies in an Era of Ultra-Low Interest Rates.

1300 ET Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker (non-voter) speaks at the Maryland Bankers Associations Economic Outlook Forum.

1530 ET Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan (voter) takes part in a panel discussion on the U.S. and global economic outlook at the annual AEA conference in Chicago.