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

The Market

Premarket today, the Dow was indicated to open up +88 points.

Wednesday the Dow closed down -392.54 (-1.07%) at 36,407.11.

Year-to-date the Dow is up +0.19%.

There were 13 Dow stocks up Wednesday.

The Dow stock winners Wednesday were led by Merck (MRK) 78.88 (+2.43%), Intel (INTC) 53.87 (+1.37%) and Walmart (WMT) 143.92 (+1.35%).

The Dow stock losers Wednesday were led by Salesforce (CRM) 227.67 (-8.28%), Microsoft (MSFT) 316.38 (-3.84%) and Apple (AAPL) 174.92 (-2.66%).

The 10-year Treasury yield topped 1.75% early today.

Expectations currently are for the Fed to start hiking rates in March, which would mean that a balance sheet reduction could start before summer.

Walgreens (WBA) rose more than 4% in the premarket after the pharmacy chain on Thursday morning reported better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter earnings and revenue. Walgreens also raised its full-year forecast as customers came to its stores for Covid vaccines and testing. The company’s shares closed Wednesday at $54, up nearly 1%. The stock has gained 30% over the past 12 months, as of Wednesday’s close, bringing the market value to more than $46.7 billion.

Unemployment insurance weekly claims in the week ending January 1, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 207,000, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 2,000 from 198,000 to 200,000. The 4-week moving average was 204,500, an increase of 4,750 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 500 from 199,250 to 199,750. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.3 percent for the week ending December 25, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending December 25 was 1,754,000, an increase of 36,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 2,000 from 1,716,000 to 1,718,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,798,750, a decrease of 61,250 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020 when it was 1,730,750. The previous week’s average was revised up by 500 from 1,859,500 to 1,860,000. The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending December 18 was 1,722,352, a decrease of 199,869 from the previous week. There were 20,155,922 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2020.

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

The national average price of gasoline is up eight-tenths of a cent at $3.301 per gallon.

Earnings Reports

Nike (NKE) reported earnings on 12/20/2021 after the market close with $0.83, beating estimates of $0.626 per share.

Walgreens (WBA) reported earnings on 1/6/2021 before the market open with $1.68, beating estimates of $1.354 per share.

JPMorgan (JPM) reports earnings on 1/14/2022 before the market open.

Goldman Sachs (GS) reports earnings on 1/18/2022 before the market open.

Procter & Gamble (PG) reports earnings on 1/19/2022 before the market open.

UnitedHealth (UNH) reports earnings on 1/19/2022 before the market open.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

Home Depot (HD)

Home Depot (HD) 407.24 (-1.36%) is down -1.87% in 2022.

Financial Calendar

07:30 AM ET Challenger Job Cuts (Dec)
07:30 AM ET Challenger Job Cuts (YoY)
08:30 AM ET Continuing Jobless Claims
08:30 AM ET Exports
08:30 AM ET Imports
08:30 AM ET Initial Jobless Claims
08:30 AM ET Jobless Claims 4-Week Avg.
08:30 AM ET Trade Balance (Nov)
10:00 AM ET Durables Excluding Defense (MoM) (Nov)
10:00 AM ET Factory Orders (MoM) (Nov)
10:00 AM ET Factory orders ex transportation (MoM) (Nov)
10:00 AM ET ISM Non-Manufacturing Business Activity (Dec)
10:00 AM ET ISM Non-Manufacturing Employment (Dec)
10:00 AM ET ISM Non-Manufacturing New Orders (Dec)
10:00 AM ET ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI (Dec)
10:00 AM ET ISM Non-Manufacturing Prices (Dec)
10:30 AM ET Natural Gas Storage
11:30 AM ET 4-Week Bill Auction
11:30 AM ET 8-Week Bill Auction