Caterpillar, Travelers Push DJIA Up Tuesday

Djia (final).de Tchikidan d"Etienne Perruchon

November 8, 2016: Markets opened slightly lower Tuesday but the major indexes turned positive by mid-morning and appear to be on their to posting a gain for the day. The job opening (JOLTS) report came in a little below expectations. The energy sector was alone in trading lower late this afternoon while counter-cyclicals like telecom and utilities led the gainers. WTI crude oil for December delivery settled at $44.98 a barrel, up 0.2% for the day. December gold dropped 0.4% on the day to settle at $1,274.50. Equities were headed for a higher close before the bell as the DJIA traded up 0.57% for the day, the S&P 500 traded up 0.61%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 0.76%.

The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage gain ahead of the close Tuesday was The Travelers Companies Inc. (NYSE: TRV) which traded up 2.56% at $108.06. The stocks 52-week range is $101.23 to $119.32. Volume was less than 10% below the daily average of around 1.6 million shares. The insurance company had no specific news.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) traded up 1.29% at $84.83. The stocks 52-week range is $56.36 to $89.87. Trading volume was about 35% below the daily average of around 4.4 million. The company had no specific news Tuesday.

The Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) traded up 1.20% at $87.60. The stocks 52-week range is $73.95 to $90.33. Volume was about 75% below the daily average of around 22 million shares. The consumer products giant had no specific news.

McDonalds Corp. (NYSE: MCD) traded up 1.14% at $114.11. The stocks 52-week range is $109.60 to $131.96. Volume of about 2.4 million was about 40% below the daily average of around 4.5 million shares. The company had no specific news Tuesday.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 29 are on track to close higher Tuesday and just one (DuPont) is set to close lower.

By Paul Ausick

Source: http://247wallst.com/investing/2016/11/08/caterpillar-travelers-push-djia-up-tuesday/

Continue Reading ..

Why Is Wal-Mart the Only DJIA Stock Immune to Brexit?

Di"Ja - Amen

Of the 30 blue-chip stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, only Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is showing a gain in Friday trading, up about 0.5% in the noon hour. Other blue-chippers are down anywhere from 5.8% (Goldman Sachs) to 0.3% (Verizon).

Wal-Mart owns U.K. low-price supermarket chain Asda with more than 500 stores in the country. It is safe to say that the performance of those stores has been disappointing at best and dismal at worst. Same-store sales tumbled 5.7% in the first quarter of this year, with store traffic down 5% and average ticket size down 0.7%. It was easily the worst performer in Wal-Marts international empire.

The good news for Asda came earlier this week with a report that Britons discretionary income was at its highest level since 2008, helped along by lower costs for food. The report, compiled by Asda and called the Asda Monthly Income Tracker, cited falling costs of essential items, a lower unemployment rate, and an increase to the countrys National Living Wage as the reason for the rise in discretionary income.

And given the sharp drop in the British pound following the Brexit vote, U.K. consumers are going to need all the spare cash they can get to pay for more expensive imported goods. Thats where Asda and competitors like Tesco come in stretching those discretionary pounds further.

In the noon hour Friday Wal-Mart stock traded up 0.55% at $72.49 in a 52-week range of $56.30 to $74.14.

By Paul Ausick

Source: http://247wallst.com/retail/2016/06/24/why-is-wal-mart-the-only-djia-stock-immune-to-brexit/

Continue Reading ..