The 4 Stocks That Buoyed the Dow Wednesday

June 1, 2016: Markets opened lower Wednesday and by mid-morning had reached a state of the wobbles around the break-even line that lasted for most of the rest of the day. The consumer staples and health care sectors showed the biggest gains for the day while telecom was the day’s anchor. The afternoon release of the Fed Beige Book gave shares a bit of a bump, enough to forge new highs, but not enough to hold onto them. WTI crude oil for July delivery settled at $49.01 a barrel, down 0.2% for the day. June gold dropped 0.2% on the day to settle at $1,211.90. Equities were headed for a (barely) higher close shortly before the bell as the DJIA traded up 0.05% for the day, the S&P 500 traded up 0.12%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 0.07%.

The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage gain ahead of the close Wednesday was E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (NYSE: DD) which traded up 1.39% at $66.32. The stock’s 52-week range is $47.11 to $75.72. Trading volume was about 35% below the daily average of around 3.4 million. The chemicals maker had no specific news Wednesday.

The Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PB) traded up 0.92% at $81.79. The stock’s 52-week range is $65.02 to $83.87. Volume was about 40% below the daily average of around 8 million shares. The consumer staples firm had no specific news Wednesday.

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) traded up 0.81% at $65.80. The stock’s 52-week range is $50.07 to $70.61. Trading volume was about 25% below the daily average of around 15.4 million shares. The company’s investment bank chief said at a conference Wednesday that he expects second quarter trading revenues to increase in the mid-teens.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH traded up 0.77% at $134.7 The stock’s 52-week range is $95.00 to $135.11. Volume was about 40% below the daily average of around 3.1 million shares.The company said on Tuesday that it will leave the California Obamacare exchange market.

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