Dow stocks hitting 52 week highs include American Express (AXP), Caterpillar (CAT), Dow (DOW), Goldman Sachs (GS), Home Depot (HD) and UnitedHealth (UNH). There are no Dow stock 52 week lows.

The Market

Premarket today, the Dow was indicated to open up +44 points.

Wednesday the Dow was up +97.31 (+0.29%) at 34,230.34.

Year-to-date the Dow is up +11.84%.

There were 18 Dow stocks up Wednesday.

The Dow stock winners Wednesday were led by Dow (DOW) 68.07 (+2.79%), Chevron (CVX) 108.96 (+2.69%) and Merck (MRK) 77.70 (+2.25%).

The Dow stock losers Wednesday were led by Boeing (BA) 228.18 (-2.33%), Disney (DIS) 181.51 (-1.49%) and Visa (V) 229.21 (-1.22%).

Unemployment insurance weekly claims in the week ending May 1, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 498,000, a decrease of 92,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020 when it was 256,000. The previous week’s level was revised up by 37,000 from 553,000 to 590,000. The 4-week moving average was 560,000, a decrease of 61,000 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020 when it was 225,500. The previous week’s average was revised up by 9,250 from 611,750 to 621,000. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.6 percent for the week ending April 24, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 24 was 3,690,000, an increase of 37,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 7,000 from 3,660,000 to 3,653,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,675,750, a decrease of 6,750 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 28, 2020 when it was 3,611,750. The previous week’s average was revised down by 1,500 from 3,684,000 to 3,682,500. The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending April 17 was 16,157,024, a decrease of 404,509 from the previous week. There were 17,847,707 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.

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

The national average price of gasoline is up 1.4 cents at $2.941 per gallon.

Earnings Reports

Disney (DIS) reports earnings on 5/13/2021 after the market close.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

Caterpillar (CAT)

Caterpillar (CAT) 237.88 (+1.92%) is up +30.69% in 2021.

Financial Calendar

7:30 AM ET Challenger Job-Cut Report

8:30 AM ET Jobless Claims

8:30 AM ET Productivity and Costs

10:30 AM ET EIA Natural Gas Report

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

4:30 PM ET Fed Balance Sheet