June 6, 2014: Markets opened higher on Friday following another encouraging report on non-farm payrolls. The DJIA and the S&P 500 set all-time highs earlier today, and all three major indexes closed the week up more than 1%. Shortly before the closing bell the DJIA traded up 0.41% for the day, the S&P 500 was up 0.35%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 0.49%.
The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) was today’s big gainer among the Dow 30. The big bank’s stock traded at $166.10, up 2.16% in a 52-week range of $148.71 to $181.13. Share volume was about 20% lower than the daily average of around 3 million shares traded. Goldman had no news today but in the price-weighted DJIA the stock accounted for more than a third of the Dow’s gain today.
Another financial stock, American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) posted a new 52-week high today of $94.80 on no news. Shares looked to close up 2.23% and traded at $94.86 in a new 52-week range of $71.47 to $94.94. Volume was about equal to the daily average of around 3.5 million shares. There was no news on the company today, but the solid employment report could be viewed as a plus for spending.
There were a number of new 52-week highs among the Dow 30 today, and Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) was one of them. The firm’s PC motherboard shipments received a boost in a research note from BMO Capital Markets this morning. Intel’s shares rose 1.77% today to trade around $28.14 in a new 52-week range of $21.89 to $28.21. Volume was about equal to the daily average of nearly 29 million shares traded.
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) traded higher by 1.18% at $108.22 in a new 52-week range of $80.86 to $108.36, a new 52-week high. Cat had no news today but yesterday’s announcement from the European Central Bank is stirring hopes that industrial firms will spend rather than hoard, and Caterpillar could be a significant beneficiary of new infrastructure spending. Volume was about 20% below the daily average of nearly 5 million shares traded.
Of the Dow 30 stocks 21 looked to close higher today while 9 were on their way to a lower finish.
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