Dow stocks hitting 52-week highs include American Express (AXP) 265.40 (+1.65%), IBM (IBM) 214.30 (-1.40%), Travelers (TRV) 241.54 (-0.30%) and Visa (V) 291.56 (+0.37%). There are no Dow stock 52-week lows.

The Market

Premarket today, the Dow was indicated to be up +43 points.

Tuesday the Dow closed down -15.90 (-0.04%) at 41,606.18.

Year-to-date the Dow is up +10.39%.

Tuesday, (17) Dow stocks were up, none made 52-week lows, and (4) made 52-week highs.

The Dow stock winners Tuesday were led by Intel (INTC) 21.47 (+2.68%), Dow (DOW) 51.51 (+1.68%) and American Express (AXP) 265.40 (+1.65%) .

The Dow stock losers Tuesday were led by Walmart (WMT) 78.60 (-2.43%), Verizon (VZ) 44.08 (-2.04%) and UnitedHealth (UNH) 577.96 (-1.90%).

The VIX closed Tuesday at 17.61 (+2.74%) and the 10 YR at 3.638 (-0.05%). The VIX is currently at 17.06 (-0.47%). The 10YR is at 3.623 (+0.11%).

Today is the day for the key Federal Reserve interest rate cut decision. Traders are pretty sure there will be some kind of rate cut, but they’re divided on if it will be the traditional quarter-percentage-point, or 25-basis-point, rate reduction, or a more aggressive 50-basis-point cut. The Federal Open Market Committee has held its benchmark fed funds rate at the highest level in 23 years, a range between 5.25%-5.5%, since it last raised rates in July 2023. Markets will also be watching to see what signals meeting participants send about where rates are expected to go from here, as well as unofficial forecasts for unemployment, gross domestic product and inflation. The policy decision comes at 2 p.m. ET.

Housing starts and building permits increased at a faster than expected pace in August, the Census Bureau reported Wednesday. Privately owned starts totaled a seasonally adjusted 1.356 million for the month, a 9.6% increase from the downwardly adjusted July total and better than the 1.31 million Dow Jones estimate. On permits, the total of 1.475 million showed an increase of 4.9% from the upwardly revised July figure and topped the forecast for 1.41 million.

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

The national average price of gasoline is up 1.2 cents at $3.215 per gallon.

Earnings Reports

Nike (NKE) reports earnings on 9/26/24 after the market close.

JPMorgan (JPM) reports earnings on 10/11/24 before the market open.

Today’s Featured Dow Stock

Chevron (CVX)

Chevron (CVX) 143.41 (+0.93%) is down -3.86% in 2024.

Financial Calendar

07:00 AM ET MBA 30-Year Mortgage Rate, 6.29%
07:00 AM ET MBA Mortgage Applications (WoW), 1.4%
07:00 AM ET MBA Purchase Index, 138.6
07:00 AM ET Mortgage Market Index, 233.7
07:00 AM ET Mortgage Refinance Index, 757.8
08:30 AM ET Building Permits (Aug), 1.410M, 1.406M
08:30 AM ET Building Permits (MoM) (Aug), -3.3%
08:30 AM ET Housing Starts (MoM) (Aug), -6.8%
08:30 AM ET Housing Starts (Aug), 1.310M, 1.238M
10:00 AM ET Milk Auctions, 3,833.0
10:30 AM ET Atlanta Fed GDPNow (Q3), 3.0%, 3.0%
10:30 AM ET Crude Oil Inventories, -0.100M, 0.833M
10:30 AM ET EIA Refinery Crude Runs (WoW), -0.141M
10:30 AM ET Crude Oil Imports, 1.526M
10:30 AM ET Cushing Crude Oil Inventories, -1.704M
10:30 AM ET Distillate Fuel Production, 0.040M
10:30 AM ET EIA Weekly Distillates Stocks, 0.080M, 2.308M
10:30 AM ET Gasoline Production, -0.371M
10:30 AM ET Heating Oil Stockpiles, -0.695M
10:30 AM ET EIA Weekly Refinery Utilization Rates (WoW), -0.5%
10:30 AM ET Gasoline Inventories, 0.610M, 2.310M
14:00 PM ET Interest Rate Projection – 1st Yr (Q3), 4.1%
14:00 PM ET Interest Rate Projection – 2nd Yr (Q3), 3.1%
14:00 PM ET Interest Rate Projection – 3rd Yr (Q1), 2.9%
14:00 PM ET Interest Rate Projection – Current (Q3), 5.1%
14:00 PM ET Interest Rate Projection – Longer (Q3), 2.8%
14:00 PM ET FOMC Economic Projections
14:00 PM ET FOMC Statement
14:00 PM ET Fed Interest Rate Decision, 5.25%, 5.50%
14:30 PM ET FOMC Press Conference
16:00 PM ET US Foreign Buying, T-bonds (Jul), 9.80B
16:00 PM ET Overall Net Capital Flow (Jul), 107.50B
16:00 PM ET TIC Net Long-Term Transactions (Jul), 96.1B
16:00 PM ET TIC Net Long-Term Transactions including Swaps (Jul), 54.90B, 96.10B