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The 4 Stocks That Lifted the Market

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Source: thinkstock
May 23, 2014: Markets opened higher on Friday and closed out a week that saw feeble trading volume, but decent weekly gains for the major indexes. The Nasdaq is headed for a weekly gain of 2.44%, while the S&P 500 added 1.3% and the DJIA traded up 0.81%. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded up 0.40% for the day, the S&P 500 was up 0.44%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 0.71%.

The leading DJIA stock today was also its most heavily price-weighted issue, Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) which traded up 1.2% at $211.91 just before the closing bell. Visa and MasterCard have agreed to remain in Russia following some relaxation of recent changes to Russian law that would have required the two firms to maintain large capital reserves in order to do business in the country. The stock’s 52-week range is $170.99 to $235.50. Volume is about 45% below the daily average of 3.5 million shares.

Nike Inc. (NYSE:) traded up again Friday at $75.78, up 1.21% in a 52-week range of $59.11 to $80.26. Share volume was about 25% below the daily average of around 3.8 million shares traded. The athletic gear maker probably got a boost from today’s impressive earnings report from Foot Locker Inc. (NYSE: FL).

The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) traded higher by 1.19% to trade at $83.34 in a 52-week range of $60.41 to $83.65. The Mouse House had no news today. Share volume was around 50% lower than the daily average of about 6.8 million shares.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) is another blue chip that traded higher today, up 0.92% at $104.03 in a 52-week range of $80.86 to $108.21. Volume was about 50% below the daily average of around 5.1 million shares. The company has very nearly overcome the 3.6% drop it experienced on Tuesday when it announced that April sales were down 13%.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 19 looked to close higher today while 11 were on their way to a lower finish.

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