November 21, 2014: Markets opened sharply higher on Friday and managed to close on the positive side after gradually declining for most of the day. China’s central bank cut its deposit rate to 2.75% and its one-year lending rate to 5.6% this morning and the European Central Bank finally appears to be getting serious about fighting off deflation. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded up 0.56% for the day, the S&P 500 traded up 0.51%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 0.17%.

The DJIA stock posting the largest daily gain ahead of the close Friday was Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) which traded higher by 4.29% at $106.46. The stock’s 52-week range is $82.00 to $111.46. Volume was about 30% above the daily average of around 4.8 million shares. The stock bounced this morning on the news on lower borrowing rates in China.

United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) traded up 1.36% at $110.31. The stock’s 52-week range is $97.30 to $120.66. Volume was about 35% below the daily average of around 4 million shares. The company had no specific news today.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) traded higher by 1.29% at $118.82. The stock’s 52-week range is $106.65 to $135.10. Volume was about 15% below the daily average of around 6.8 million shares. The price of crude oil rose about 1% today and the energy sector as a whole trailed only basic materials as the day’s leading gainer.

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE: DD) traded up 1.05% at $72.18. The stock’s 52-week range is $59.35 to $72.92. Trading volume was about half the daily average of around 5 million shares. The company had no specific news today.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 6 are set to close lower today and 24 are on track to close higher.

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