September 15, 2015: Markets opened higher on Tuesday following early morning reports of an increase in retail sales and drops in both industrial production and in the Empire State manufacturing survey. Crude oil traded higher all day and settled up 1.3% at $44.59 after recovering some lost ground following a White House announcement that the Obama administration does not support repealing the ban on exports of U.S. oil. Gold settled about 0.5% lower today. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded up 1.52% for the day, the S&P 500 traded up 1.40%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 1.24%.

The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage gain ahead of the close Tuesday was Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) which traded higher by 2.54% at $74.62. The stock’s 52-week range is $70.23 to $107.12. Trading volume was about 45% lower than the daily average of around 6.3 million. The company also had no specific news today.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) traded up 2.49% at $44.11. The stock’s 52-week range is $39.72 to $50.05. About 23 million shares traded hands today, roughly a third less than the daily average of about 34.5 million. The company had no specific news today, but speculation about new products at an October 6th event is beginning to heat up.

Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) traded up 2.43% at $43.61. The stock’s 52-week range is $45.69 to $63.62. Trading volume was about 10% below the daily average of around 10 million. The company had no specific news today.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) traded up 2.30% at $25.34. The stock’s 52-week range is $19.37 to $28.68. Trading volume was about equal to the daily average of around 34 million. The company said this morning that it may take 500 jobs overseas as a result of the failure of Congress to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank..

Of the Dow 30 stocks 29 are set to close higher today and just 1 (DIS) is on track to close higher.

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