October 26, 2017: Markets opened higher Thursday as buyers look to pick up some bargains following Wednesday’s sell-off. The healthcare sector is getting hammered following some bad news from Celgene, but materials and energy are picking up the slack. WTI crude oil for December delivery settled at $52.64 a barrel, up 0.9% on the day. December gold dropped 0.7% on the day to settle at $1,269.60. Equities were headed for a mixed close shortly before the bell as the DJIA traded up 0.35% for the day, the S&P 500 traded up 0.14%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 0.08%.
The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage gain ahead of the close Thursday was Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) which traded up 3.71% at $56.98. The stock’s 52-week range is $49.01 to $60.53. Volume was about double the daily average of around 9.3 million shares. The company had no specific news, but investors liked what the company said yesterday about a $50 billion sales goal in the next five years.
DowDuPont Inc. (NYSE: DWDP) traded up 2.87% at $73.13. The stock’s 52-week range is $51.60 to $73.85 and the high was posted this afternoon. Volume was about 75% above the daily average of around 7 million shares. The company said it expects third-quarter results to top is prior estimates.
American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) traded up 2.17% at $95.56. The stock’s 52-week range is $65.03 to $95.64, another new 52-week high set this afternoon. Volume was about 10% below the daily average of around 3.2 million shares. The company had no specific news Tuesday.
The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) traded up 1.07% at $98.85. The stock’s 52-week range is $91.66 to $116.10. Volume was about 40% below the daily average of around 8.1 million. The media giant had no specific news, but first reports of ticket sales for its new Marvel movie, “Thor: Ragnarok” were encouraging.
Of the Dow stocks, 23 are on track to close higher Thursday and 7 are set to close lower.
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