Dow stocks hitting 52 week highs include Home Depot (HD), Intel (INTC), 3M (MMM) and UnitedHealth (UNH). There are no Dow stock 52 week lows.

The Market

Premarket today, the Dow was indicated to open down -140 points.

Wednesday the Dow was down -3.09 (-0.01%) at 32,420.06.

Year-to-date the Dow is up +5.93%.

There were 15 Dow stocks up Wednesday.

The Dow stock winners Wednesday were led by Chevron (CVX) 104.70 (+2.68%), Dow (DOW) 62.04 (+2.12%) and Honeywell (HON) 212.22 (+1.74%).

The Dow stock losers Wednesday were led by Nike (NKE) 133.16 (-2.89%), Salesforce (CRM) 209.53 (-2.54%) and Intel (INTC) 62.04 (-2.27%).

Unemployment insurance weekly claims in the week ending March 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 684,000, a decrease of 97,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 11,000 from 770,000 to 781,000. The 4-week moving average was 736,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 2,750 from 746,250 to 749,000. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.7 percent for the week ending March 13, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 13 was 3,870,000, a decrease of 264,000 from the previous week’s
revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 10,000 from 4,124,000 to 4,134,000. The 4-week moving average was 4,120,750, a decrease of 137,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 2,500 from 4,255,500 to 4,258,000. The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending March 6 was 18,952,795, an increase of 733,862 from the previous week. There were 2,006,387 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.

The third and final reading on Q4 gross domestic product showed a gain of 4.3%, up from previous estimates and Street consensus of 4.1%.

The White House announced Thursday that it’s dedicating another $10 billion to try to drive up vaccination rates in low-income, minority and rural communities. More than 25% of the entire U.S. population received at least one vaccine dose, including 14% who have been fully vaccinated.

European stocks are lower and Asian markets ended mostly lower.

The national average price of gasoline is down four-tenths of a cent at $2.870 per gallon.

Earnings Reports

Nike (NKE) reported earnings on 3/18/2021 after the market close of $0.90, beating estimates of $0.752 per share.

Walgreens (WBA) reports earnings on 3/31/2021 before the market open.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

Salesforce (CRM)

Salesforce (CRM) 209.53 (-2.54%) is down -5.84% in 2021.

Financial Calendar

8:30 AM ET GDP

8:30 AM ET Jobless Claims

8:30 AM ET Corporate Profits

10:30 AM ET EIA Natural Gas Report

11:00 AM ET Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index

11:00 AM ET 3-Month Bill Announcement

11:00 AM ET 6-Month Bill Announcement

11:30 AM ET 4-Week Bill Auction

11:30 AM ET 8-Week Bill Auction

1:00 PM ET 7-Yr Note Auction

4:30 PM ET Fed Balance Sheet