March 29, 2016: Markets opened lower on Tuesday and it took a speech by Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen to kickstart the buying. Her remarks were widely interpreted as dovish on interest rate hikes, and that’s been good news for equities. Only the financial sector (no surprise there) traded lower on the day. The tech and telecom sectors were the top performers. WTI crude oil for May delivery settled at $38.28 a barrel, down about 2.8% for the day. June gold added 1.3% to settle at $1,237.50 for the day. Equities were headed for a higher close shortly before the closing bell as the DJIA traded up 0.52% for the day, the S&P 500 traded up 0.82%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 1.57%.
The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage gain ahead of the close Monday was Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) which traded up 2.33% at $107.64. The stock’s 52-week range is $92.00 to $134.54. Trading volume was about 45% below the daily average of around 46 million. The FBI announced on Monday that it had cracked the iPhone owned by one of the San Bernardino killers and would drop its litigation against Apple.
Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) traded up 2.11% at $54.67. The stock’s 52-week range is $39.72 to $56.85. Volume was less than half the daily average of around 39 million shares traded. The tech giant had no specific news Tuesday.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) traded up 1.86% at $75.46. The stock’s 52-week range is $60.00 to $81.01. Trading volume was about 40% below the daily average of around 10.8 million. The credit card issuer had no specific news Tuesday.
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Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) traded up 1.38% at $32.34. The stock’s 52-week range is $24.87 to $35.59. Volume was about 60% below the daily average of around 26 million shares. Intel had no specific news either on Tuesday.
Of the Dow 30 stocks 25 are set to close higher on Thursday and 5 are on track to close lower.
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