March 4, 2014: Markets opened higher on Tuesday as it became clear that shooting was not about to start in Ukraine today. A lot of yesterday’s downturn was no more than a hedge against possible losses if the situation in the Crimea deteriorated quickly. The turnaround in equities was even bigger than the downturn, perhaps including a larger than usual sigh of relief. In the final minutes of trading the DJIA was up 1.51%, the S&P 500 was up 1.61%, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.83%.

Today’s biggest gainer among the Dow 30 stocks was The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS). The House of Mouse agreed to a deal with Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) that allows the satellite company to stream content from Disney-owned ABC and ESPN to Internet connected devices. This is a pretty big deal and the first of its kind. Shares traded up 2.91% at $81.77 in a 52-week range of $55.76 to $82.17 (a new 52-week high) just ahead of the closing bell. Disney’s volume is on track to be about 15% below the daily average of around 7.3 million shares traded.

Nasdaq Composite component Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) saw its share price pop 8.02% today following Monday’s announcement that the company would be testing its real-money poker games before the end of the year and that there were new mobile versions of some of the company’s most popular games on the way. The stock will close around $5.66 in a 52-week range of $2.50 to $5.74 (a new 52-week high). Volume was about double the daily average of around 27 million shares traded.

The most heavily traded Nasdaq stock today is Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG). The fuel cell maker inked a deal with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) last week and the number of potential new customers for the company’s fuel cells just keeps the share price charging high. The shares closed up 15% at $6.69 in a 52-week range of $0.15 to $7.09 (a new 52-week high). Plug Power’s share volume was about 6-times higher than the daily average of around 26 million shares traded.

Heavily traded retailer J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) is adding another 4.13% today and traded at $8.28 in its 52-week range of $4.90 to $19.63 shortly before today’s closing bell. The retailer received an upgrade to its corporate outlook from ‘negative’ to ‘stable’ from S&P. The company’s debt is still solidly junk-rated. Trading volume for Penney’s shares was nearly double the daily average of nearly 30 million shares.

All 30 stocks in the DJIA are set to close higher today.

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