April 16, 2015: Markets opened lower on Thursday before climbing above the break-even line in the mid-afternoon. Crude oil futures rose to another year-to-date high today and three hot IPOs buoyed investors after a mixed morning of earnings reports and some new worries about a possible default by Greece on its May loan repayments. The Dow wobbled around the break-even line as the afternoon session wound down, but appeared headed for a lower close on the day. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded down 0.03% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 0.07%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded down 0.06%.

The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Thursday was Merck & Co. Inc (NYSE: MRK) which traded down 1.09% at $57.81. The stock’s 52-week range is $52.49 to $63.62. Trading volume was less than half the daily average of around 11.2 million shares. The drug giant had no specific news today.

McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) traded down 0.90% at $95.57. The stock’s 52-week range is $87.62 to $103.78. Trading volume was about 40% below the daily average of around 7.5 million shares. The company’s Japanese unit has forecast a much wider operating loss and plans to close stores before returning to profitability in 2016..

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) traded down 0.70% at $79.18. The stock’s 52-week range is $72.61 to $90.97. Trading volume was about equal to the daily average of around 6.8 million shares. The company had no specific news today, but was among 5 large-cap stocks we noted this morning as being well-loved by portfolio managers.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) traded lower by 0.70% at $99.90. The stock’s 52-week range is $95.10 to $109.49. Trading volume was about 40% below the daily average of around 9.3 million shares. The company had no specific news today.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 19 are set to close lower today and 11 are on track to close higher.

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