There are no Dow stocks hitting 52 week highs. There are no Dow stock 52 week lows.

The Market

Premarket today, the Dow was indicated to open up +183 points.

Tuesday the Dow was up +140.48 (+0.52%) at 27,288.18.

Year-to-date the Dow is down -4.38%.

There were 20 Dow stocks up Tuesday.

The Dow stock winners Tuesday were led by Nike (NKE) 116.87 (+3.09%), Microsoft (MSFT) 207.42 (+2.41%) and Amgen (AMGN) 247.50 (+1.77%).

The Dow stock losers Tuesday were led by UnitedHealth (UNH) 294.26 (-1.65%), Goldman Sachs (GS) 191.62 (-1.23%) and JPMorgan (JPM) 94.27 (-1.09%).

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) said Wednesday it has begun its phase three trial testing its potential coronavirus vaccine. J&J is the fourth drugmaker backed by the Trump administration’s Covid-19 vaccine program Operation Warp Speed to enter late-stage testing. The others are Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca. The trial will enroll up to 60,000 adult volunteers across 215 locations in the U.S. and other countries, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Participants will be randomly selected to receive a dose of the potential vaccine or a placebo, according to details of the trial, which will determine whether the vaccine is safe and effective. The Food and Drug Administration is expected to soon announce more stringent standards for emergency authorization of a Covid-19 vaccine, lowering the chances that one might be cleared for use before the Nov. 3 election.

Dow futures gains this morning are primarily being driven by a 12% premarket surge in Nike (NKE) shares after the company reported late Tuesday an 82% jump in fiscal first-quarter online sales and a rebound in China. Nike also issued a rosier outlook, calling for demand to grow through the holidays.

Walmart (WMT) is looking to hire 20,000 workers to help pack and ship holiday orders this year.

3M (MMM) is exploring the sale of its food safety business. The unit could draw up to $3.5 billion in a sale, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The House passed a bill late Tuesday that would fund the government into December and avoid a shutdown before a Sept. 30 deadline. The legislation now heads to the Republican-held Senate.

European stocks are higher and Asian markets ended mostly higher.

The national average price of gasoline is up 1 penny at $2.193 per gallon.

Earnings Reports

Nike (NKE) 116.87 (+3.09%) reported earnings on 9/22/2020 after the market close of $0.95, beating estimates calling for $0.458 per share. Last I checked it was trading at 132.15 in after-hours. [Closed at $114.90, +1.93% on 9/9/2020]

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

Walgreens (WBA)

Walgreens (WBA) 194.83 (-2.92%) is down -39.42% year-to-date. Walgreens (WBA) YTD low was 33.88 on 9/11/2020. Walgreens has provided a +5.43% gain off the YTD low.

Financial Calendar

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