Dow stocks hitting 52 week highs include Caterpillar (CAT) and McDonald’s (MCD). There are no Dow stock 52 week lows.

The Market

Premarket today, the Dow was indicated to open up +133 points.

Thursday the Dow was down -19.80 (-0.07%) at 28,494.20.

Year-to-date the Dow is down -0.16%.

There were 16 Dow stocks up Thursday.

The Dow stock winners Thursday were led by Walgreens (WBA) 37.64 (+4.82%), JPMorgan (JPM) 101.72 (+4.82%) and Nike (NKE) 129.00 (+1.05%).

The Dow stock losers Thursday were led by Merck (MRK) 79.06 (-1.80%), Salesforce (CRM) 257.72 (-1.57%) and Vusa (V) 199.55 (-1.31%).

Pfizer (PFE) announced that it could have a late-stage experimental coronavirus vaccine ready for emergency-use authorization by late November, if it proves successful in trials, is providing another lift to markets that have been dogged this week by reports of the spread of the viral pandemic outside and inside the U.S.

Social Security benefits will get a 1.3% cost-of-living adjustment in 2021. But that increase is not enough to cover the extra costs retirees and other beneficiaries are facing amid Covid-19, according to two Democratic lawmakers. Now, they plan to introduce a new bill in the House of Representatives to put a 3% emergency COLA in place next year. I also think they should get busy and pass some stimulus this week.

European stocks are mostly higher and Asian markets ended mostly higher.

The national average price of gasoline is down two-tenths of a cent at $2.176 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]

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) 148.88 (+1.24%) reported earnings on Tuesday 10/13/2020 before the market open of $2.20, beating estimates calling for $1.987 per share.

JPMorgan (JPM) 96.27 (+0.96%) reported earnings on Tuesday 10/13/2020 before the market open of $2.92, beating estimates calling for $2.353 per share.

Goldman Sachs (GS) reported earnings on Wednesday 10/14/2020 before the market open of $9.68, beating estimates calling for $5.57 per share.

UnitedHealth (UNH) reported earnings on Wednesday 10/14/2020 before the market open of $3.51, beating estimates of $2.981 per share.

Walgreens (WBA) reported earnings on Thursday 10/15/2020 before the market open of $1.02, beating estimates of $0.96 per share.

IBM (IBM) reports earnings on Monday 10/19/2020 after the market close.

Procter & Gamble (PG) reports earnings on Tuesday 10/20/2020 before the market open.

Travelers (TRV) reports earnings on Tuesday 10/20/2020 before the market open.

Verizon (VZ) reports earnings on Wednesday 10/21/2020 before the market open.

Microsoft (MSFT) reports earnings on Wednesday 10/21/2020 after the market close.

Dow (DOW) reports earnings on Thursday 10/22/2020 before the market open.

Coca Cola (KO) reports earnings on Thursday 10/22/2020 before the market open.

Intel (INTC) reports earnings on Thursday 10/22/2020 after the market close.

American Express (AXP) reports earnings on Friday 10/23/2020 before the market open.

Honeywell (HON) reports earnings on Friday 10/23/2020 before the market open.

3M (MMM) reports earnings on Tuesday 10/27/2020 before the market open.

Merck (MRK) reports earnings on Tuesday 10/27/2020 before the market open.

Microsoft (MSFT) reports earnings on Tuesday 10/27/2020 after the market close.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) 147.19 (-0.61%) is down -0.09% year-to-date. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) YTD low was 109.16 on 3/23/2020. Johnson & Johnson has provided a +34.84% gain off the YTD low.

Financial Calendar

8:30 AM ET Retail Sales

9:15 AM ET Industrial Production

10:00 AM ET Business Inventories

10:00 AM ET Consumer Sentiment

1:00 PM ET Baker Hughes Rig Count

2:00 PM ET Treasury Statement

4:00 PM ET Treasury International Capital