April 30, 2014: Markets opened lower on Wednesday but perked up following the FOMC’s mid-afternoon announcement that it would continue to cut its asset buying even though the first reading on Q1 GDP showed a gain of a meager 0.1%. The DJIA closed up 0.27%, the S&P 500 was up 0.30%, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.27%.

Conglomerate 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) led the DJIA higher today and closed up 1.12% at $139.09. The stock’s 52-week range is $104.42 to $140.43. Share volume was about 25% below the daily average of around 3 million shares traded. A kind word today from Jim Cramer on the industrials probably gave 3M a boost.

The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) closed up 0.88% at $79.33 in a 52-week range of $60.41 to $83.65. Volume was about 30% lower than the daily average of around 7.4 million shares. The cast of the next “Star Wars” movie was announced yesterday and generated a lot of buzz for the Mouse House.

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) closed at $102.30 today, posting a gain of 0.84%. The stock’s 52-week range is $84.79 to $102.41, and the high was set today. Share volume was about 10% below the daily average of around 12.3 million shares traded. Exxon reports first quarter results before markets open Thursday morning.

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Nasdaq and S&P 500 stock Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) closed up 2.79% today at $59.77 in a 52-week range of $22.67 to $72.59. Volume was about 5% above the daily average of more than 71 million shares. The company launched its mobile ad network today.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 17 closed higher today while 12 finished lower and 1 closed unchanged.

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