Premarket today, the Dow was indicated to open up +144 points.

Wednesday the Dow was down -127.59 (-0.36%) at 34,930.93.

Year-to-date the Dow is up +14.13%.

There were 9 Dow stocks up Wednesday.

The Dow stock winners Wednesday were led by Boeing (BA) 231.57 (+4.1%), Caterpillar (CAT) 211.44 (+0.73%) and Walgreens (WBA) 47.11 (+0.62%).

The Dow stock losers Wednesday were led by McDonald’s (MCD) 241.78 (-1.86%), Travelers (TRV) 146.82 (-1.71%) and American Express (AXP) 170.02 (-1.69%).

Yesterday Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said at his post-meeting news conference that substantial economic improvement would be needed for the central bank to start dialing back its easy-money policies.

Also yesterday, the Senate voted to advance a bipartisan infrastructure plan Wednesday evening, a critical step toward Democrats passing their sweeping economic agenda.

Merck (MRK) fell in the premarket after the drug maker matched estimates with quarterly earnings and topped expectations on revenue.

The Commerce Department said Thursday morning that its first look at second-quarter gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 6.5%, a big miss compared to estimates for 8.4% growth.

The Labor Department reported this morning that initial jobless claims came in at 400,000 last week, slightly worse than expectations. The previous week’s level was revised up to 424,000. Initial claims for the week ended July 10 of 368,000 matched last month’s Covid-era low.

US futures are mostly higher, European stocks are higher and Asian markets ended higher.

The national average price of gasoline is up five-tenths of a cent at $3.166 per gallon.

Earnings Reports

Nike (NKE) reported earnings on 6/24/2021 after the market close of $0.93, beating estimates of $0.51 per share.

Walgreens (WBA) reported earnings on 7/1/2021 before the market open of $1.51, beating estimates of $1.114 per share.

Goldman Sachs (GS) reported earnings on 7/13/2021 before the market open of $15.02, beating estimates of $10.24 per share.

JPMorgan (JPM) reported earnings on 7/13/2021 before the market open of $3.78, beating estimates of $3.10 per share.

UnitedHealth (UNH) reported earnings on 7/15/2021 before the market open of $4.70, beating estimates of $4.407 per share.

IBM (IBM) reported earnings on 7/19/2021 after the market close of $2.33, beating estimates of $2.252 per share.

Travelers (TRV) reported earnings on 7/20/2021 before the market open of $3.45, beating estimates of $2.346 per share.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) reported earnings on 7/21/2021 before the market open of $2.48, beating estimates of $2.28 per share.

Coca Cola (KO) reported earnings on 7/21/2021 before the market open of $0.68, beating estimates of $0.566 per share.

Verizon (VZ) reported earnings on 7/21/2021 before the market open of $1.37, beating estimates of $1.303 per share.

Dow (DOW) reported earnings on 7/22/2021 before the market open of $2.72, beating estimates calling for $2.477 per share.

Intel (INTC) reported earnings on 7/22/2021 after the market close of $1.28, beating estimates of $1.057 per share.

American Express (AXP) reported earnings on 7/23/2021 before the market open of $2.80, beating estimates of $1.641 per share.

Honeywell (HON) reported earnings on 7/23/2021 before the market open of $2.02, beating estimates of $1.938 per share.

3M (MMM) reported earnings on 7/27/2021 before the market open of $2.59, beating estimates of $2.245 per share.

Apple (AAPL) reported earnings on 7/27/2021 after the market close of $1.30, beating estimates of $1.001 per share.

Microsoft (MSFT) reported earnings on 7/27/2021 after the market close of $2.17, beating estimates of $1.90 per share.

Visa (V) reported earnings on 7/27/2021 after the market close of $1.49, beating estimates of $1.334 per share.

Boeing (BA) reported earnings on 7/28/2021 before the market open of $0.40, beating estimates of -$0.654 per share.

McDonald’s (MCD) reported earnings on 7/28/2021 before the market open of $2.37, beating estimates of $2.123 per share.

Merck (MRK) reported earnings on 7/29/2021 before the market open of $1.30, missing estimates calling for $1.325 per share.

Caterpillar (CAT) reports earnings on 7/30/2021 before the market open.

Chevron (CVX) reports earnings on 7/30/2021 before the market open.

Procter & Gamble (PG) reports earnings on 7/30/2021 before the market open.

Amgen (AMGN) reports earnings on 8/3/2021 after the market close.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

Walmart (WMT)

Walmart (WMT) 142.06 (-0.41%) is down -1.46% in 2021.

Financial Calendar

8:30 AM ET GDP

8:30 AM ET Jobless Claims

10:00 AM ET Pending Home Sales Index

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

1:00 PM ET 7-Yr Note Auction

4:30 PM ET Fed Balance Sheet