April 2, 2014: Markets opened mixed on Wednesday following in the ADP payroll data and n increase in factory orders reported early in the day. Mortgage applications were down again as mortgage interest rates rose slightly for some types of loans. In the final minutes of trading the DJIA was up 0.33%, the S&P 500 was up 0.40%, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.23%. The S&P 500 posted an intra-day record and appeared headed for a record high close today. The DJIA also had a new high in its sights.

Today’s market mover among the DJIA stocks was Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) which added 2.84% and traded at $102.64 in a 52-week range of $79.49 to $102.76 (the high was set today). Volume was on track to be roughly 10% higher than the daily average of around 6.3 million shares traded. The company appears to have come off well in its Senate hearing on sending profits out of the U.S. to avoid taxes. Basically the company said that it followed the law and several Senators appeared to agree with Caterpillar.

Another big gainer today was United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) which traded up 1.69% at $119.90 in a 52-week range of $90.30 to $120.13 (a new high set today). There was no specific news driving the share price higher. Volume was about 65% above the daily average of around 3.6 million shares traded.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) slipped 0.50% lower today, to close around $22.98 in a 52-week range of $19.98 to $26.49. Share volume was about 30% lower than the daily average of around 45 million shares traded. The company gave back today some of its 3%+ gain from yesterday. Shares staged a comeback in the last hour of trading, rising from a morning downturn of around 1.5%.

The Nasdaq stock with the most action today was Mannkind Corp. (NASDAQ: MNKD ) which traded up 73.76% at $6.99 in a 52-week range of $3.60 to $8.70 following a recommendation that the U.S. FDA approve the company’s inhalable diabetes treatment. Trading volume for the shares was nearly 12-times the daily average of around 8.6 million shares traded.

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

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