Dow stocks at 52 week highs include American Express (AXP). There are no Dow stock 52 week lows.

The Market

Premarket today, the Dow was indicated to open down -51 points.

Wednesday the Dow was down -1.10 (-0.01%) at 21,478.17.

Year-to-date the Dow is up +8.68%.

There were 20 Dow stocks up Wednesday.

The Dow stock winners Wednesday were led by Intel (INTC) +2.63% and Boeing (BA) +1.62%.

The Dow stock losers Wednesday were led by Nike (NKE) -1.86% and Disney (DIS) -1.70%.

Merck & Co. (MRK -0.17%) lost 1% in after-hours trading after the FDA put a full clinical hold on the “Keynote-183” and “Keynote-185” studies and a partial hold on “Keynote-023” Cohort 1 saying the risks of these therapies outweigh any potential benefit for patients with multiple myeloma.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose for a third straight week last week, likely as some automakers closed assembly plants for the annual summer retooling.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 248,000 for the week ended July 1. Data for the prior week was unrevised. Economists had forecast first-time applications for jobless benefits falling to 243,000 in the latest week.

Job creation in the private sector tailed off significantly in June according to a report Thursday from ADP and Moody’s Analytics. Companies added 158,000 positions for the month, a number that economists who released the report said was still strong but stood well below the robust 230,000 number the report showed in May. The reading also was considerably below the 185,000 gain that economists surveyed by Reuters expected, and was revised lower from the initial 253,000 count.

European stocks are lower and Asian markets ended mostly lower.

The national average price of gasoline is up 1.1 cents at $2.242 per gallon.

Earnings Reports.

Nike (NKE) reported earnings on 6/29/17 after the market close of $0.60, beating estimates calling for $0.512 per share.

JPMorgan (JPM) reports earnings on 7/14/17 before the market open.

Goldman Sachs (GS) reports earnings on 7/18/17 before the market open.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) reports earnings on 7/18/17 before the market open.

UnitedHealth (UNH) reports earnings on 7/18/17 before the market open.

IBM (IBM) reports earnings on 7/18/17 after the market close.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

Boeing (BA)

Boeing (BA) is up +29.63% year-to-date.

Financial Calendar

0700 ET Weekly MBA mortgage applications, previous -6.2% with purchase sub-index -4.1% and refi sub-index -8.6%.

0730 ET Jun Challenger job cuts, May +9.7% y/y.

0815 ET Jun ADP employment change expected +188,000, May +253,000.

0830 ET Weekly initial unemployment claims expected -1,000 to 243,000, previous +2,000 to 244,000. Weekly continuing claims expected -8,000 to 1.940 million, previous +6,000 to 1.948 million.

0830 ET May trade balance expected -$46.3 billion, Apr -$47.6 billion.

0945 ET Final-Jun Markit services PMI expected unrevised at 53.0, prelim-Jun -0.6 to 53.0.

1000 ET Jun ISM non-manufacturing PMI expected -0.4 to 56.5, May -0.6 to 56.9.

1000 ET Fed Governor Jerome Powell delivers a speech on the Case for Housing Finance Reform at an American Enterprise Institute event in Washington, D.C.

1100 ET EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report.

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 Jul 11-13.

1930 ET Fed Vice Chair Stanley Fischer speaks on government policy and labor productivity (Q&A to follow).