Dow stocks at 52 week highs include Coca Cola (KO), Home Depot (HD) and UnitedHealth (UNH). There are no Dow stock 52 week lows.

The Market

Premarket today, the Dow was indicated to open down -21 points.

Wednesday the Dow was up +39.32 (+0.18%) at 22,158.18.

Year-to-date the Dow is up +12.12%.

There were 20 Dow stocks up Wednesday.

The Dow stock winners Wednesday were led by Chevron (CVX) +1.50% and Verizon (VZ) +0.98%.

The Dow stock losers Wednesday were led by Caterpillar (CAT) -1.08% and Pfizer (PFE) -0.88%.

Applications for jobless benefits dropped by 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 284,000 last week after surging to 298,000 the previous week. The previous week’s increase of 62,000 had pushed claims to the highest level in two years. The four-week average for claims rose to 263,250 last week, the highest level in a year. Applications from Texas, recovering from Hurricane Harvey, totaled 51,988 last week, down by 11,800 from the previous week, but still far above the normal range of around 12,000 applications filed weekly in Texas. The number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits dropped by 7,000 to 1.94 million, 9.1 percent lower than a year ago.

European stocks are lower and Asian markets ended lower.

The national average price of gasoline is down seven-tenths of a cent at $2.649 per gallon.

Earnings Reports.

Nike (NKE) reports earnings on 9/26/17 after the market close.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

Microsoft (MSFT)

Microsoft (MSFT) is up +18.99% year-to-date.

Financial Calendar

0830 ET Weekly initial unemployment claims expected +2,000 to 300,0000, previous +62,000 to 298,000. Weekly continuing claims expected +25,000 to 1.965 million, previous -5,000 to 1.940 million.

0830 ET Aug CPI expected +0.3% m/m and +1.8% y/y, Jul +0.1% m/m and +1.7% y/y. Aug CPI ex food & energy expected +0.2% m/m and +1.6% y/y, Jul +0.1% m/m and +1.7% y/y.

0830 ET USDA weekly Export Sales.

1100 ET Treasury announces amount of 10-year TIPS to be auctioned Sep 21.