May 7, 2015: Markets opened mixed on Thursday but the three major indexes all turned higher by mid-morning and never looked back. Biotech and tech stocks boosted the Nasdaq Composite all day while the energy and basic materials sectors weighed on the blue chips. Both gold and crude oil closed lower today and natural gas dropped as well following a slightly larger-than-expected natural gas storage increase. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded up 0.49% for the day, the S&P 500 traded up 0.38%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 0.51.

The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage gain ahead of the close Thursday was The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) which traded up 1.76% at $110.22. The stock’s 52-week range is $75.32 to $117.99. Trading volume is about 25% below the daily average of around 5 million shares. The home improvement retailer is talking to Apple about adding Apple Pay to the company’s payment options.

Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) traded higher by 1.26% at $101.48. The stock’s 52-week range is $72.25 to $103.79. Trading volume was about 40% below the daily average of around 3.5 million shares. The athletic gear maker had no specific news today.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) traded up 1.46%% at $66.63. The stock’s 52-week range is $48.80 to $69.98. Trading volume is about 45% below the daily average of around 8.9 million shares. The company is getting a boost from a recent report on higher retail spending.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) traded up 1.04% at $46.76. The stock’s 52-week range is $38.97 to $50.05 Trading volume was about 30% below the daily average of around 38 million shares. Investors may have been buying the dip today after Microsoft posted a drop of about 3% yesterday.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 27 are set to close lower today and only 3 are on track to close higher.

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