Dow stocks at 52 week highs include Apple (AAPL), Disney (DIS) and Microsoft (MSFT). There are no Dow stock 52 week lows.

The Market

Premarket today, the Dow was indicated to open up +35 points.

Wednesday the Dow was down -41.09 (-0.20%) at 20,648.15.

Year-to-date the Dow is up +4.48%.

There were 11 Dow stocks up Wednesday.

The Dow stock winners Wednesday were led by McDonald’s (MCD) +0.87% and Dupont (DD) +0.84%.

The Dow stock losers Wednesday were led by JPMorgan (JPM) -1.28% and Cisco (CSCO) -1.23%.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits declined 25,000 to a seasonally adjusted 234,000 for the week ended April 1. The drop was the largest since the week ending April 25, 2015. The prior week’s data was revised to show 1,000 more applications received than previously reported.

European stocks are mostly higher and Asian markets ended higher.

The national average price of gasoline is up 1.6 cents at $2.349 per gallon.

Earnings Reports.

Nike (NKE) reported earnings on 3/21/2017 after the market close of $0.68, beating estimates calling for $0.524 per share.

JPMorgan (JPM) reports earnings on 4/13/2017 before the market open.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) reports earnings on 4/18/2017 before the market open.

Goldman Sachs (GS) reports earnings on 4/18/2017 before the market open.

UnitedHealth (UNH) reports earnings on 4/18/2017 before the market open.

IBM (IBM) reports earnings on 4/18/2017 after the market close.

American Express (AXP) reports earnings on 4/19/2017 after the market close.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

American Express (AXP)

American Express (AXP) is up +4.97% year-to-date.

Financial Calendar

n/a President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping hold talks on Thu-Fri at Mar-a-Lago, Florida.

0700 ET Mar Challenger job cuts, Feb -40.0% y/y.

0830 ET Weekly initial unemployment claims expected -8,000 to 250,000, previous -3,000 to 258,000. Weekly continuing claims expected -22,000 to 2.030 million, previous +65,000 to 2.052 million.

0830 ET USDA weekly Export Sales.

0930 ET San Francisco Fed President John Williams (non-voter) speaks on a ECB panel in Frankfurt on Do monetary policy frameworks need to be adjusted in a world of (potentially) low natural interest rates? If so, how?

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 Apr 10-12.