Investing

The 4 Stocks That Steered the Market

thinkstockMay 9, 2014: Markets opened mixed on Friday and wobbled along all day to finish with a small gain. Tech stocks got a burst of support in the last half-hour of trading today. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA…

By Paul Ausick
Published May 9, 2014, 4:01pm ET · 2 min read

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May 9, 2014: Markets opened mixed on Friday and wobbled along all day to finish with a small gain. Tech stocks got a burst of support in the last half-hour of trading today. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded up 0.20%, the S&P 500 was up 0.03%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 0.81%.

McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) was the DJIA’s big gainer today and traded up 0.93% at $102.92. The company has started testing seasoned french fries in some markets which some investors apparently like a lot. The stock’s 52-week range is $92.22 to $102.92, a new 52-week high set today. Share volume was about half the daily average of around 5 million shares traded.

Another rising stock today was Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) which traded up 0.69% at $79.23 in a 52-week range of $71.51 to $81.37.. Volume was about 35% below the daily average of around 6.6 million shares. Walmart was one of the blue-chip stocks that put up a gain today along with a few of the momentum stocks.

Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN), for instance, gained 7.25% today and traded at $6.06. The stock’s 52-week range is $5.18 to $12.76. Share volume was about 60% higher than the daily average of around 23 million shares traded. The daily deals company was hit hard this week by a sell-off in tech names and a weak earnings report.

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Another blue-chip gainer was The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) which traded up 0.82% today at $77.68 in a 52-week range of $72.21 to $83.20. There was no news on the stock. Volume was about half the daily average of around 7 million shares.

Of the Dow 30 stocks 15 looked to close higher today while 14 were on their way to a lower finish. One stock was flat.

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Paul Ausick

Paul Ausick has been writing for 247Wallst.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.

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