July 30, 2015: Markets opened lower on Thursday following a rather disappointing first reading of U.S. second-quarter GDP. Weakness in the Chinese equities market also played a role in the slow start. But semiconductor stocks pulled the Nasdaq Composite up and tech stocks did the same for the other major indexes. Energy stocks traded down after some poor earnings reports. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded nearly flat for the day, the S&P 500 traded up 0.02%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 0.40%.

The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage gain ahead of the close Thursday was Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) which traded higher by 1.66%% at $47.06. The stock’s 52-week range is $40.12 to $50.05. Trading volume was about equal to the daily average of around 32 million. The company is riding the mostly well-received launch of Windows 10 and also won a favorable court decision in a patent case.

United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) traded up 1.50% at $100.86. The stock’s 52-week range is $97.30 to $124.45. Trading volume was about 25% above the daily average of around 4.2 million. The company also had no specific news today.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) traded up 1.19% at $78.25. The stock’s 52-week range is $74.77 to $109.73. Trading volume was was about 20% below the daily average of around 4.7 million. The company had no specific news today.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) which traded up 0.59% at $76.46. The stock’s 52-week range is $48.80 to $76.94. About 3.8 million shares traded hands today, around 40% below the daily average of about 7.1 million. The company had no specific news today.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 20 are set to close higher today and 10 are on track to close lower.

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