Caterpillar, Cisco Systems Lift DJIA on Monday

February 13, 2017 by Paul Ausick

February 13, 2017: Markets opened higher again Monday mostly on bets that President Trump’s tax cuts will materialize as promised and usher in a new period of growth for the U.S. economy. Among the sectors, financials posted the day’s biggest gain and telecom was the bigt loser. WTI crude oil for March delivery settled at $52.93 a barrel, down about 1.7% on the day. April gold slipped 0.8% on the day to settle at $1,225.80. Equities were headed for a higher close close shortly before the bell as the DJIA traded up 0.72% for the day, the S&P 500 traded up 0.57%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 0.52%. All three major indexes posted new record highs again Monday.

The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage gain ahead of the close Monday was Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) which traded up 2.28% at $98.51. The stock’s 52-week range is $63.07 to $99.46. Volume was about 30% above the daily average of around 4.4 million shares. The company had no specific news, but likely got a boost from reports of rising commodity prices for iron ore and copper.

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) traded up 1.54% at $246.46. The stock’s 52-week range is $138.20 to $247.77. Volume was about 40% below the daily average of around 4.3 million shares. The company had no specific news.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) traded up 1.48% at $31.98. The stock’s 52-week range is $25.19 to $31.99, and the high was posted this afternoon. Volume was nearly 20% lower than the daily average of around 22 million shares. The networking company had no specific news, but is scheduled to report earnings Wednesday afternoon and investors hopes are obviously high.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) traded up 1.33% at $35.81. The stock’s 52-week range is $28.36 to $38.45. Volume was about 10% above the daily average of around 21.5 million shares. The company had no specific news.

Of the Dow 30 stocks, 25 are on track to close higher Monday and 5 are set to close lower.

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