Dow stocks hitting 52-week highs include Chevron (CVX) and Travelers (TRV). Dow stock 52-week lows include 3M (MMM).

The Market

Premarket today, the Dow was indicated to open up +222 points.

Wednesday the Dow closed down -129.64 (-0.38%) at 34,168.09.

Year-to-date the Dow is down -5.97%.

There were 10 Dow stocks up Wednesday.

The Dow stock winners Wednesday were led by Microsoft (MSFT) 296.71 (+2.85%), Visa (V) 205.87 (+1.92%) and Intel (INTC) 51.69 (+1.35%).

The Dow stock losers Wednesday were led by Boeing (BA) 194.27 (-4.82%), Verizon (VZ) 51.02 (-3.55%) and 3M (MMM) 169.30 (-2.56%).

Dow futures turned positive Thursday after falling more than 500 points overnight as the market’s recent volatility persisted.

McDonald’s (MCD) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that fell short of expectations as higher costs weighed on its profits, marking the fourth miss in the past eight quarters. The company’s shares fell more than 2% in premarket trading. Excluding charges related to the sale of McD Tech Labs to IBM and other items, McDonald’s earned $2.23 per share. Net sales rose 13% to $6.01 billion.

The government on Thursday morning reported its first look at fourth-quarter economic growth, saying GDP rose at an annual rate of 6.9%, compared to estimates of 5.5%, despite the Covid omicron spread. The increase was well above the unrevised 2.3% growth in the third quarter. Q4 brought an end to a 2021 that saw a 5.7% increase in annualized GDP, the strongest pace since 1984.

Bond yields ticked lower early Thursday. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield remained above 1.8% after climbing Wednesday as traders took Powell’s post-meeting comments to mean more aggressive policy tightening may be ahead to fight inflation and protect the labor market.

Unemployment insurance weekly claims in the week ending January 22, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 260,000, a decrease of 30,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 4,000 from 286,000 to 290,000. The 4-week moving average was 247,000, an increase of 15,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 1,000 from 231,000 to 232,000. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2 percent for the week ending January 15, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 15 was 1,675,000, an increase of 51,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised down by 11,000 from 1,635,000 to 1,624,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,651,750, a decrease of 10,750 from the previous week’s revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since August 18, 1973 when it was 1,646,750. The previous week’s average was revised down by 1,750 from 1,664,250 to 1,662,500. U.S. futures are higher, European stocks are higher and Asian markets ended lower. The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending January 8 was 2,140,986, an increase of 8,444 from the previous week. There were 19,048,138 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2021.

The national average price of gasoline is up six-tenths of a cent at $3.348 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) reported earnings on 1/14/2022 before the market open with $3.33, beating estimates of $2.978 per share.

Goldman Sachs (GS) reported earnings on 1/18/2022 before the market open with $10.81, missing estimates of $11.76 per share.

Procter & Gamble (PG) reported earnings on 1/19/2022 before the market open with $1.66, beating estimates of $1.649 per share.

UnitedHealth (UNH) reported earnings on 1/19/2022 before the market open with $4.48, beating estimates of $4.296 per share.

Travelers (TRV) reported earnings on 1/20/2022 before the market open with $5.20, beating estimates of $3.861 per share.

IBM (IBM) reports earnings on 1/24/2022 after the market close with $3.35, missing estimates of $3.385 per share.

3M (MMM) reported earnings on 1/25/2022 before the market open with $2.31, beating estimates of $2.028 per share.

American Express (AXP) reported earnings on 1/25/2022 before the market open with $2.18, beating estimates of $1.778 per share.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) reported earnings on 1/25/2022 before the market open with $2.13, beating estimates of $2.123 per share.

Verizon (VZ) reported earnings on 1/25/2022 before the market open with $1.31, beating estimates of $1.282 per share.

Microsoft (MSFT) reported earnings on 1/25/2022 after the market close with $2.48, beating estimates of $2.288 per share.

Boeing (BA) reported earnings on 1/26/2022 before the market open with -$7.69, missing estimates of -$0.09 per share.

Intel (INTC) reported earnings on 1/26/2022 after the market close with $1.09, beating estimates of $0.90 per share.

Dow (DOW) reported earnings on 1/27/2022 before the market open with $2.15, beating estimates of $2.039.

McDonald’s (MCD) reported earnings on 1/27/2022 before the market open with $2.23, missing estimates of $2.309 per share.

Apple (AAPL) reports earnings on 1/27/2022 after the market close.

Visa (V) reports earnings on 1/27/2022 after the market close.

Caterpillar (CAT) reports earnings on 1/28/2022 before the market open.

Chevron (CVX) reports earnings on 1/28/2022 before the market open.

Honeywell (HON) reports earnings on 2/3/2022 before the market open.

Merck (MRK) reports earnings on 2/3/2022 before the market open.

Amgen (AMGN) reports earnings on 2/7/2022 after the market close.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

UnitedHealth (UNH)

UnitedHealth (UNH) 458.43 (+0.35%) is down -8.70% in 2022.

Financial Calendar

08:30 AM ET Continuing Jobless Claims
08:30 AM ET Core Durable Goods Orders (MoM) (Dec)
08:30 AM ET Core PCE Prices (Q4)
08:30 AM ET Durable Goods Orders (MoM) (Dec)
08:30 AM ET Durables Excluding Defense (MoM) (Dec)
08:30 AM ET GDP (QoQ) (Q4)
08:30 AM ET GDP Price Index (QoQ) (Q4)
08:30 AM ET GDP Sales (Q4)
08:30 AM ET Goods Orders Non Defense Ex Air (MoM) (Dec)
08:30 AM ET Initial Jobless Claims
08:30 AM ET Jobless Claims 4-Week Avg.
08:30 AM ET PCE Prices (Q4)
08:30 AM ET Real Consumer Spending (Q4)
10:00 AM ET Pending Home Sales (MoM) (Dec)
10:00 AM ET Pending Home Sales Index (Dec)
10:30 AM ET Natural Gas Storage
11:00 AM ET KC Fed Composite Index (Jan)
11:00 AM ET KC Fed Manufacturing Index (Jan)
11:30 AM ET 4-Week Bill Auction
11:30 AM ET 8-Week Bill Auction
13:00 AM ET 7-Year Note Auction