Dow stocks hitting 52-week highs include Coca Cola (KO), Procter & Gamble (PG) and UnitedHealth (UNH). Therre are no Dow stock 52-week lows.

The Market

Premarket today, the Dow was indicated to open down -25 points.

Tuesday the Dow closed down -106.77 (-0.30%) at 35544.18

Year-to-date the Dow is up +16.13%.

There were 17 Dow stocks up Tuesday.

The Dow stock winners Tuesday were led by Travelers (TRV) 156.73 (+2.32%), Merck (MRK) 73.72 (+1.36%) and Amgen (AMGN) 213.74 (+1.11%).

The Dow stock losers Tuesday were led by Salesforce (CRM) 255.59 (-3.83%), Microsoft (MSFT) 328.34 (-3.26%) and Cisco (CSCO) 57.77 (-1.43%).

U.S. stocks futures are pointing to a steady to slightly down open ahead of the Federal Reserve’s widely expected Wednesday afternoon announcement of a faster tapering of its bond purchases.

The government said before-the-bell Wednesday that November retail sales rose just 0.3% from the prior month, only about a third of the expected advance. The slowing sales growth came against the backdrop of higher prices and reports of earlier holiday shopping. The October increase was revised slightly higher to a 1.8% increase. Total retail sales from September through November were up 16.2% compared to the same period one year ago.

House Democrats passed a debt ceiling increase with one Republican vote, sending the measure to President Joe Biden early Wednesday. He’s expected to sign it just hours before the Treasury Department forecasts it would exhaust its tools to pay the government’s bills, an outcome that would upend the U.S. economy. The Senate, also controlled by Democrats, approved the increase to the nation’s borrowing limit along party lines Tuesday afternoon. Once signed, the resolution would raise the debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion, probably enough to get through next year’s midterm election.

The Covid omicron variant, first detected in southern Africa about a month ago, now makes up about 3% of cases sequenced in the U.S., according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While delta remains the dominant strain in the U.S., the CDC said that the highly mutated omicron variant is spreading quickly.

U.S. futures are mostly lower, European stocks are mostly higher and Asian markets ended mostly lower.

The national average price of gasoline is down five-tenths of a cent at $3.318 per gallon.

Earnings Reports

Nike (NKE) reports earnings on 12/20/2021 after the market close.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

Visa (V)

Visa (V) 209.98 (-0.49%) is down -4.00% in 2021.

Financial Calendar

07:00 AM ET MBA 30-Year Mortgage Rate
07:00 AM ET MBA Mortgage Applications (WoW)
07:00 AM ET MBA Purchase Index
07:00 AM ET Mortgage Market Index
07:00 AM ET Mortgage Refinance Index
08:30 AM ET Core Retail Sales (MoM) (Nov)
08:30 AM ET Export Price Index (MoM) (Nov)
08:30 AM ET Import Price Index (MoM) (Nov)
08:30 AM ET NY Empire State Manufacturing Index (Dec)
08:30 AM ET Retail Control (MoM) (Nov)
08:30 AM ET Retail Sales (YoY) (Nov)
08:30 AM ET Retail Sales (MoM) (Nov)
08:30 AM ET Retail Sales Ex Gas/Autos (MoM) (Nov)
10:00 AM ET Business Inventories (MoM) (Oct)
10:00 AM ET NAHB Housing Market Index (Dec)
10:00 AM ET Retail Inventories Ex Auto (Oct)
10:30 AM ET Crude Oil Inventories
10:30 AM ET EIA Refinery Crude Runs (WoW)
10:30 AM ET Crude Oil Imports
10:30 AM ET Cushing Crude Oil Inventories
10:30 AM ET Distillate Fuel Production
10:30 AM ET EIA Weekly Distillates Stocks
10:30 AM ET Gasoline Production
10:30 AM ET Heating Oil Stockpiles
10:30 AM ET EIA Weekly Refinery Utilization Rates (WoW)
10:30 AM ET Gasoline Inventories
14:00 PM ET Interest Rate Projection – 1st Yr (Q4)
14:00 PM ET Interest Rate Projection – 2nd Yr (Q4)
14:00 PM ET Interest Rate Projection – 3rd Yr (Q4)
14:00 PM ET Interest Rate Projection – Current (Q4)
14:00 PM ET Interest Rate Projection – Longer (Q4)
14:00 PM ET FOMC Economic Projections
14:00 PM ET FOMC Statement
14:00 PM ET Fed Interest Rate Decision
14:30 PM ET FOMC Press Conference
16:00 PM ET US Foreign Buying, T-bonds (Oct)
16:00 PM ET Overall Net Capital Flow (Oct)
16:00 PM ET TIC Net Long-Term Transactions (Oct)
16:00 PM ET TIC Net Long-Term Transactions including Swaps (Oct)