February 26, 2014: Markets opened higher on Wednesday and bounced off an early low on a strong report from the Census Bureau on new home sales — up 10% in January. The tech stocks weighed on both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq all day. In the final minutes of trading the DJIA was up 0.14%, the S&P 500 was up 0.02%, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.07%.

Today’s big gainer among the Dow 30 stocks was Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT). The world’s largest retailer is riding the coattails of Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) which is around 7% after reporting earnings this morning. Shares traded up 1.96% at $74.79 in a 52-week range of $70.58 to $81.37 just ahead of the closing bell. Walmart’s volume is on track to be about 20% above the daily average of around 6.5 million shares traded.

S&P 500 company Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA) was trading down 3.91% at $79.81, in a 52-week range of $67.91 to $94.84. The oil & gas producer did not say what investors wanted to hear at Apache’s investor day shindig. The company’s share volume was more than double the daily average of around 2.7 million shares traded.

Among actively traded Nasdaq shares, BlackBerry Ltd. (NASDAQ: BBRY) dropped 2.5% today and traded at $10.35 in its 52-week range of $5.41 to $16.82. The company’s shares dropped sharply late in the day — perhaps on news that The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) is seeking FCC approval of a new, secure smartphone. Trading volume was about equal to the daily average of nearly 28 million shares.

Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) posted another all-time high today of $265.00 before closing around $252.39. The stock’s 52-week low is $34.25. Tesla’s battery supplier, Panasonic, said it is considering options about joining Tesla to build a gigantic battery plant. Share volume was about equal to the daily average of nearly 28 million shares traded.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 18 are set to close higher today while 22 are on their way to a lower close.

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