April 28, 2015: Markets opened slightly higher on Tuesday but were able to cross back into positive territory on early strength from the tech and healthcare sectors. Equities appear headed for a narrowly mixed close with the DJIA and S&P 500 set to close higher and the Nasdaq Composite headed for a modestly lower close. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded up 0.30% for the day, the S&P 500 traded up 0.15%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 0.26%.

The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage gain ahead of the close Tuesday was Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) which traded up 5.62% at $60.31. The stock’s 52-week range is $52.49 to $63.62. Trading volume is approaching triple the daily average of around 11 million shares. Merck reported strong earnings Tuesday morning.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NYSE: CSCO) traded up 1.45% at $29.31. The stock’s 52-week range is $22.43 to $30.31. Trading volume is about 3% below the daily average of around 28 million shares. The company had no specific news today.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) traded up 1.36% at $111.20 The stock’s 52-week range is $98.88 to $135.10. Trading volume was about 45% below the daily average of around 7.7 million shares. The company had no specific news today but may have gotten a bit of a boost from a solid operations report from BP this morning.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) traded higher by 1.18% at $117.61. The stock’s 52-week range is $74.26 to $123.76. Trading volume was about 15% below the daily average of around 4 million shares. The company had no specific news today but may have gotten some help from Aetna’s earnings and forecast.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 17 are set to close higher today and 13 are on track to close lower.

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