April 18, 2018: Markets opened higher for a fifth straight session Wednesday but it’s been a bumpy ride ever since. All three major indexes dipped into the red and the Dow has not been able to recover to much more than right around the break-even line. The Fed Beige Book was released this afternoon but it held no surprises: people are worried about a trade war.
WTI crude oil for May delivery settled at $68.47 a barrel, up 2.9% for the day on a bullish U.S. petroleum inventory report. June gold added about 0.3% on the day to settle at $1,353.50. Equities were headed for a barely mixed close about 10 minutes before the bell as the Dow traded down 0.14% for the day, the S&P 500 traded up 0.10%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 0.22%.
Bitcoin futures (XBTJ8) for April delivery traded at $8,110, up about 3% on the CBOE after opening at $7,880 this morning. The digital currency’s trading range for the day was $7,850 to $8,160.
The Dow stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Wednesday was International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) which traded down 7.68% at $148.54. The stock’s 52-week range is $139.13 to $171.13. Volume was more than three times the daily average of around 5.3 million. The company reported quarterly earnings last night and investors didn’t like what the saw or heard.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) traded down 2.08% at $127.82 in a 52-week range of $121.11 to $148.32. Volume of about 7.3 million shares was about 10% below the daily average. The company had no specific news Wednesday.
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The Dow stock posting the largest daily percentage gain ahead of the close Wednesday was The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) which traded up 3.00% at $180.16. The stock’s 52-week range is $144.25 to $207.61. Volume was about 20% below the daily average of around 5.4 million. There company announced this morning that it plans to hire 1,000 IT workers to strengthen its position against e-commerce behemoth Amazon.
Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) traded up 2.44% at $124.42. The stock’s 52-week range is $102.55 to $133.88. Volume was about 15% lower than the daily average of around 7.2 million shares. The company got a nice boost from rising crude oil prices.
Of the Dow stocks, 15 are on track to close higher Wednesday and 15 are set to close lower.
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