Dow stocks at 52 week highs include American Express (AXP), Nike (NKE), Pfizer (PFE), United Technologies (UTX) and Visa (V). There are no Dow stock 52 week lows.

The Market

Premarket today, the Dow was indicated to open up +137 points.

Wednesday the Dow was up +158.80 (+0.61%) at 26,405.76.

Year-to-date the Dow is up +6.82%.

There were 20 Dow stocks up Wednesday.

The Dow stock winners Wednesday were led by Goldman Sachs (GS) +2.92% and JPMorgan (JPM) +2.90%.

The Dow stock losers Wednesday were led by Verizon (VZ) -1.64% and Microsoft (MSFT) -1.33%.

Caterpillar (CAT +2.48%) was upgraded to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Neutral’ at Baird with a price target of $191.

Unemployment insurance weekly claims in the week ending September 15, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 201,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 204,000. This is the lowest level for initial claims since November 15, 1969 when it was 197,000. The 4-week moving average was 205,750, a decrease of 2,250 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 208,000. This is the lowest level for this average since December 6, 1969 when it was 204,500. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2 percent for the week ending September 8, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending September 8 was 1,645,000, a decrease of 55,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since August 4, 1973 when it was 1,633,000. The previous week’s level was revised up 4,000 from 1,696,000 to 1,700,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,691,500, a decrease of 20,750 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since November 17, 1973 when it was 1,686,000. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,000 from 1,711,250 to 1,712,250.

European stocks are higher and Asian markets ended mostly higher.

The national average price of gasoline is up two-tenths of a cent at $2.845 per gallon.

Earnings Reports.

Nike (NKE) reports earnings on 9/25/2018 after the market close.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

Exxon Mobil (XOM)

Exxon Mobil (XOM) is up +1.15% year-to-date.

Financial Calendar

Tentative USD OPEC Meeting
12:30 USD Continuing Jobless Claims, 1,705K, 1,696K

12:30 USD Initial Jobless Claims, 210K, 204K

12:30 USD Jobless Claims 4-Week Avg., 208.00K

12:30 USD Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index (Sep), 17.0, 11.9

12:30 USD Philly Fed Business Conditions (Sep), 38.8

12:30 USD Philly Fed CAPEX Index (Sep), 27.10

12:30 USD Philly Fed Employment (Sep), 14.3

12:30 USD Philly Fed New Orders (Sep), 9.9

12:30 USD Philly Fed Prices Paid (Sep), 55.00

14:00 USD Existing Home Sales (Aug), 5.35M, 5.34M

14:00 USD Existing Home Sales (MoM) (Aug), 0.3%, -0.7%

14:30 USD Natural Gas Storage, 84B, 69B

17:00 USD 10-Year TIPS Auction, 0.762%