October 8, 2014: Markets opened mixed on Wednesday with virtually no economic data and little other news until the release of the last FOMC meeting minutes. That perked up the markets due to the committee’s view that a slowing global economy sets up a risk to the U.S. economy, leading investors to the conclusion that rates won’t rise any time soon. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded up 1.65% for the day, the S&P 500 traded up 1.75%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 1.93%.

The Dow 30 stock posting the largest daily gain ahead of the close today was UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) which traded up 2.99% today at $86.71. The stock’s 52-week range is $66.72 to $88.85. The health insurer had no news today, but the healthcare sector was up about 2% today. Volume on UnitedHealth was about equal to the daily average of around 3.5 million shares.

Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) traded higher by 2.93% at $60.16. The stock’s 52-week range is $44.62 to $61.33. Volume was about 15% above the daily average of around 8.3 million shares. The company got a bit of a boost on the announcement that it will present some heavily anticipated data on its hepatitis C drug at a conference next month.

3M Company (NYSE: MMM) traded up 2.63% at $141.30 in a 52-week range of $116.65 to $147.87. Volume was about 35% above the daily average of around 6 million shares. There was not specific news on the company today, but the industrial sector rose about 1.6% on the day.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) traded up 1.92% at $212.04. The stock’s 52-week range is $180.11 to $235.50. Trading volume was about 20% below the daily average of around 2.4 million shares. There was no specific news on Visa today, but the most heavily weighted stock in the index led the financials to a gain of about 1.7%.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 29 stocks are set to close higher today, and just 1 is on track to close higher (that would be DuPont).

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