November 6, 2014: Markets opened slightly higher on Thursday but all three major indexes shortly sank into the red before turning positive by mid-morning. Natural gas, crude oil, and precious metals traded down on dollar strength. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded up 0.41% for the day, the S&P 500 traded up 0.38%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 0.37%.

The Dow 30 stock posting the largest daily gain ahead of the close today was General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) which traded higher by 2.13% at $26.38. The stock’s 52-week range is $23.69 to $28.09. Volume was about 10% above the daily average of around 29 million shares. The company had no specific news today, but led the charge making the industrials today’s best performing sector.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) traded higher by 1.96% at $48.80. The stock’s 52-week range is $34.63 to $48.85, a new 52-week high. Volume was about 15% below the daily average of around 34 million shares. The company announced today that it was making its mobile Office apps free.

The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) traded up 1.80% at $97.50. The stock’s 52-week range is $73.96 to $99.26. Trading volume was about 55% below the daily average of around 6.8 million shares. The home improvement store had no specific news today.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) traded up 1.52% at $100.92. The stock’s 52-week range is $81.87 to $111.46. Volume was about 40% below the daily average of around 5 million shares. The company had no news today, but performed nearly as well in the industrials sector as did GE.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 7 are set to close lower today and 23 are on track to close higher.

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