Dow stocks hitting 52-week highs include Merck (MRK) 110.12 (+1.18%) and Travelers (TRV) 189.81 (+1.39%). There are no Dow stock 52-week lows.

The Market

Premarket today, the Dow was indicated to open up +65 points.

Wednesday the Dow closed up +737.24 (+2.18%) at 34,589.77.

Year-to-date the Dow is down -4.81%.

Wednesday, (28) of the Dow 30 stocks were up, none were at 52-week lows and (2) were at 52-week highs.

The Dow stock winners Wednesday were led by Microsoft (MSFT) 255.14 (+6.16%), Salesforce (CRM) 160.25 (+5.65%), Apple (AAPL) 148.03 (+4.86%) and Intel (INTC) 30.07 (+4.05%).

The Dow stock losers Wednesday were Walmart (WMT) 152.42 (-0.36%) and 3M (MMM) 125.97 (-0.13%).

The 10 YR yield closed Wednesday at 3.670 and the VIX at 20.58 (-5.98%). The 10 YR is currently at 3.611 and VIX is at 20.57 (-0.05%).

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said smaller interest rate hikes could start as soon as this month, signaling the central bank will shortly ease up on its aggressive inflation-fighting measures. Powell, speaking at the Brookings Institution on Wednesday, said that the Fed would continue to implement a restrictive monetary policy for some time — following four successive 0.75 percentage point rate increases — but that it has seen “promising developments” so far. “It makes sense to moderate the pace of our rate increases as we approach the level of restraint that will be sufficient to bring inflation down,” he said.

The House approved a tentative labor agreement between railroads and their workers’ unions on Wednesday in an effort to avert a widespread and costly strike. In a 290 to 137 vote, the House approved new contracts for rail workers that include 24% pay raises over five years as well as payouts averaging $11,000 and an extra paid day off. In a separate vote, the House also passed a resolution to add seven days of paid sick time to the contracts. Both measures now face a vote in the Senate on a tight timeline — without an agreement, the effects of a potential strike could be felt as soon as this weekend.

Unemployment insurance weekly claims in the week ending November 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 225,000, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 1,000 from 240,000 to 241,000. The 4-week moving average was 228,750, an increase of 1,750 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 250 from 226,750 to 227,000. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.1 percent for the week ending November 19, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending November 19 was 1,608,000, an increase of 57,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 1,551,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,538,750, an increase of 30,250 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised down by 1,250 from 1,509,750 to 1,508,500. The total number of continued weeks claimed for benefits in all programs for the week ending November 12 was 1,367,913, an increase of 115,477 from the previous week. There were 2,298,126 weekly claims filed for benefits in all programs in the comparable week in 2021.

Inflation in the US, as measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index, declined to 6% on a yearly basis in October from 6.3% in September, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis announced on Thursday. This reading came in below the market expectation of 6.2%. The annual Core PCE Price Index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of inflation, declined to 5% from 5.2% as expected. Further details of the publication revealed that Personal Spending and Personal Income rose by 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively, on a monthly basis in October.

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

The national average price of gasoline is down 2.5 cents at $3.470 per gallon.

Earnings Reports

Nike (NKE) reported earnings on 9/29/2022 after the market close with $0.93, beating estimates of $0.913 per share.

Walgreens (WBA) reported earnings on 10/13/2022 before the market open with $0.80, beating estimates of $0.779 per share.

JPMorgan (JPM) reported earnings on 10/14/2022 before the market open with $3.12, beating estimates of $2.961 per share.

UnitedHealth (UNH) reported earnings on 10/14/2022 before the market open with $5.79, beating estimates of $5.451 per share.

Goldman Sachs (GS) reported earnings on 10/18/2022 before the market open with $8.25, beating estimates of $7.69 per share.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) reported earnings on 10/18/2022 before the market open with $2.55, beating estimates of $2.494 per share.

Procter & Gamble (PG) reported earnings on 10/19/2022 before the market open with $1.57, beating estimates of $1.548 per share.

Travelers (TRV) reported earnings on 10/19/2022 before the market open with $2.20, smashing estimates of $1.77 per share.

IBM (IBM) reported earnings on 10/19/2022 after the market close with $1.81, beating estimates of $1.776 per share.

Dow (DOW) reported earnings on 10/20/2022 before the market open with $1.11, beating estimates of $1.026 per share.

American Express (AXP) reported earnings on 10/21/2022 before the market open with $2.47, beating estimates of $2.385 per share.

Verizon (VZ) reported earnings on 10/21/2022 before the market open with $1.32, beating estimates of $1.285 per share.

Coca Cola (KO) reported earnings on 10/25/2022 before the market open with $0.69, beating estimates of $0.636 per share.

3M (MMM) reported earnings on 10/25/2022 before the market open with $2.69, beating estimates of $2.612 per share.

Microsoft (MSFT) reported earnings on 10/25/2022 after the market close with $2.35, beating estimates of $2.29 per share.

Visa (V) reported earnings on 10/25/2022 after the market close with $1.93, beating estimates of $1.857 per share.

Boeing (BA) reported earnings on 10/26/2022 before the market open with -$6.18, missing estimates of -$0.006 per share.

Caterpillar (CAT) reported earnings on 10/27/2022 before the market open with $3.95, smashing estimates of $3.186 per share.

Honeywell (HON) reported earnings on 10/27/2022 before the market open with $2.25, beating estimates of $2.163 per share.

McDonald’s (MCD) reported earnings on 10/27/2022 before the market open with $2.68, beating estimates of $2.57 per share.

Merck (MRK) reported earnings on 10/27/2022 before the market open with $1.85, beating estimates of $1.674 per share.

Apple (AAPL) reported earnings on 10/27/2022 after the market close with $1.29, beating estimates of $1.261 per share.

Intel (INTC) reported earnings on 10/27/2022 after the market close with $0.59, smashing estimates of $0.34 per share.

Chevron (CVX) reported earnings on 10/28/2022 before the market open with $5.56, beating estimates of $5.019 per share.

Amgen (AMGN) reported earnings on 11/3/2022 after the market close with $4.70, beating estimates of $4.427 per share.

Disney (DIS) reports earnings on 11/8/2022 after the market close with $0.30, missing estimates of $0.503 per share.

Home Depot (HD) reported earnings on 11/15/2022 before the market open with $4.24, beating estimates of $4.109 per share.

Walmart (WMT) reported earnings on 11/15/2022 before the market open with $1.50, beating estimates of $1.315 per share.

Cisco (CSCO) reported earnings on 11/16/2022 after the market close with $0.86, beating estimates of $0.733 per share.

Salesforce (CRM) reported earnings on 11/30/2022 after the market close with $1.40, smashing estimates of $0.585 per share.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

Procter & Gamble (PG)

Procter & Gamble (PG) 149.16 (+2.53%) is down -8.82% in 2022.

Financial Calendar

07:30 AM ET Challenger Job Cuts (YoY), 33.8%
07:30 AM ET Challenger Job Cuts (Nov), 33.843K
08:30 AM ET Continuing Jobless Claims, 1,573K, 1,551K
08:30 AM ET Core PCE Price Index (YoY) (Oct), 5.0%, 5.1%
08:30 AM ET Core PCE Price Index (MoM) (Oct), 0.3%, 0.5%
08:30 AM ET Initial Jobless Claims, 235K, 240K
08:30 AM ET Jobless Claims 4-Week Avg., 226.75K
08:30 AM ET PCE Price index (YoY) (Oct), 6.2%
08:30 AM ET PCE price index (MoM) (Oct), 0.3%
08:30 AM ET Personal Income (MoM) (Oct), 0.4% 0.4%
08:30 AM ET Personal Spending (MoM) (Oct), 0.8%, 0.6%
08:30 AM ET Real Personal Consumption (MoM) (Oct), 0.3%
09:30 AM ET FOMC Member Bowman Speaks
09:45 AM ET Manufacturing PMI (Nov), 47.6, 47.6
10:00 AM ET Construction Spending (MoM) (Oct), -0.3%, 0.2%
10:00 AM ET ISM Manufacturing Employment (Nov), 50.0
10:00 AM ET ISM Manufacturing New Orders Index (Nov), 49.2
10:00 AM ET ISM Manufacturing PMI (Nov), 49.8, 50.2
10:00 AM ET ISM Manufacturing Prices (Nov), 47.5, 46.6
10:30 AM ET Natural Gas Storage, -84B, -80B
11:30 AM ET 4-Week Bill Auction, 3.970%
11:30 AM ET 8-Week Bill Auction, 4.120%
15:00 PM ET Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Barr Speaks
17:42 PM ET Dallas Fed PCE (Oct), 4.30%