Dow stocks hitting 52-week highs include UnitedHealth (UNH) 513.46. There are no Dow stock 52-week lows.

The Market

Premarket today, the Dow was indicated to open up +89 points.

Thursday the Dow closed up +349.44 (+1.02%) at 34,707.94.

Year-to-date the Dow is down -4.49%.

There were 28 Dow stocks up Thursday.

The Dow stock winners Thursday were Intel (INTC) 51.62 (+6.94%), Apple (AAPL) 174.07 (+2.27%), UnitedHealth (UNH) 513.46 (+2.03%) and McDonald’s (MCD) 240.26 (+1.75%).

The Dow stock losers Thursday were Nike (NKE) 132.08 (-0.69%) and Home Depot (HD) 315.78 (-0.40%).

The 10 YR yield is currently at 2.396%.

The United States and the EU on Friday announced a new partnership to reduce Europe’s reliance on Russian energy, the start of a yearslong effort to further isolate Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine. Under the plan, the U.S. and other nations will increase liquified natural gas exports to Europe by 15 billion cubic meters this year. Even larger shipments will be delivered in the future. Energy is a key source of income and political leverage for the Kremlin, which supplies the EU with roughly 40% of its LNG via Russian pipelines, several of which run through Ukraine.

Following a day of NATO and G-7 summits in Brussels, President Joe Biden is set to travel to Poland on Friday — the second leg of his emergency trip to Europe, one month into Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine. The president will be meeting with his Polish counterpart about the worsening humanitarian crisis as more than 3.7 million refugees have fled war-torn Ukraine, the bulk of them crossing the border into Poland. On Thursday, Biden announced the U.S. is prepared to commit more than $1 billion in humanitarian assistance to help aid Ukrainians still inside the country and those who have become refugees.

Russia is considering accepting bitcoin as payment for its oil and natural gas exports as Moscow finds itself more and more isolated under stiffening sanctions from Western countries over its Ukraine aggression. The chair of Russia’s legislative committee on energy said in translated remarks Thursday that alternative ways of payment for energy when it comes to “friendly” countries such as China or Turkey could include the national fiat currency of the buyer and bitcoin. Commodities traded worldwide are largely transacted in the U.S. dollar or the euro.

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

The national average price of gasoline is down seven-tenth of a cent at $4.243 per gallon.

Earnings Reports

Nike (NKE) reported earnings on 3/21/2022 after the market close with $0.87, beating estimates of $0.732 per share.
Walgreens (WBA) reports earnings on 3/31/2022 before the market open.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

Salesforce (CRM)

Salesforce (CRM) 213.98 (+1.36%) is down -15.80% in 2022.

Financial Calendar

10:00 AM ET FOMC Member Williams Speaks
10:00 AM ET Michigan 5-Year Inflation Expectations (Mar)
10:00 AM ET Michigan Consumer Expectations (Mar)
10:00 AM ET Michigan Consumer Sentiment (Mar)
10:00 AM ET Michigan Current Conditions (Mar)
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10:00 AM ET Pending Home Sales (MoM) (Feb)
10:00 AM ET Pending Home Sales Index (Feb)
11:30 AM ET FOMC Member Barkin Speaks
12:00 AM PT Fed Waller Speaks
13:00 AM PT U.S. Baker Hughes Oil Rig Count
13:00 AM PT U.S. Baker Hughes Total Rig Count
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