February 7, 2014: Markets opened higher on Friday even following a weak report on non-farm payrolls. As with car sales and retail sales, bad weather got a big portion of the blame for the weak employment number. The unemployment rate ticked down to 6.6% The DJIA closed up 1.06%, the S&P 500 closed up 1.33%, and the Nasdaq Composite closed up 1.69%.

Today’s big gainer among the Dow 30 stocks was The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA). Shares closed up 3.52% at $126.99 in a 52-week range of $74.27 to $144.57. Boeing’s shares have tumbled 15% in a little more than 2 weeks. That presents an opportunity to investors who believe the aircraft maker’s stock can only go higher. Boeing’s volume today was about 60% higher than the daily average of around 4.8 million shares.

Internet travel agency Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) posted a gain of 14.28% to close at $74.44. The Nasdaq 100 company reported beat earnings estimates soundly last night and expectations for an even better 2014. Expedia’s 52-week range is $45.69 to $75.43, and the high was set today. Trading volume was more than 4-times the daily average of around 2 million shares traded.

Dow component The American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) gained 1.51% for the day to close at $86.98, in a 52-week week range of $61.14 to $93.62. The credit card company received approval of a settlement with U.S. merchants over transaction fees. The settlement did not require any payment from American Express. Share volume was more than about equal to the daily average of around 4 million shares traded.

A non-index stock that traded unusually large volume today was GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT). A report at website 9to5Mac said that the company is acquiring sapphire furnaces for a new plant it built in Arizona with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) to make sapphire-crystal displays for the iPhone. Shares closed up 13.54% at $10.73 in a 52-week range of $5.61 to $10.76 — and the high was posted today. This is not particularly good news for Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW), Apple’s current supplier of iPhone display glass. GT’s volume was more than 2.5-times the daily average of around 22 million shares.

Of the Dow 30 stocks only 1 closed lower today while 29 closed higher.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.