24/7 Wall St.

March 13, 2017: Markets opened higher Monday maybe as a result of this morning’s announcement that Intel is ponying up $15.3 billion for autonomous driving firm Mobileye. Trading has not moved stocks a lot either up or down, and the holding pattern is likely to last until Wednesday’s announcement from the FOMC regarding an interest rate (as near a sure thing as there is these days). WTI crude oil for April delivery settled at $48.40 a barrel, down 0.2% on the day. April gold added 0.1% on the day to settle at $1,203.10. Equities were headed for a mixed close shortly before the bell as the DJIA traded down 0.06% for the day, the S&P 500 traded up 0.07%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 0.26%.

The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Monday was Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) traded down 2.17% at $35.13. The stock’s 52-week range is $29.50 to $38.45. Volume was nearly double the daily average of around 22.8 million shares. The company spent $15 billion in cash this morning — that’s enough to sour any investor.

Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) traded down 1.57% at $64.11. The stock’s 52-week range is $51.33 to $66.80. Volume was less than 10% below the daily average of around 10.7 million shares. The company had no specific news Monday.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) which traded down 1.35% at $29.87. The stock’s 52-week range is $28.19 to $33.00. Volume was about a third below the daily average of nearly 31 million. The company had no specific news Monday, following a Friday boost on a report that CEO Jeff Immelt is being pushed to retire.

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) traded down 1.06% at $109.44. The stock’s 52-week range is $92.25 to $119.00. Volume was about 30% below the daily average of around 6.3 million shares. The oil & gas supermajor had no specific news.

Of the Dow 30 stocks, 16 are on track to close higher Monday and 14 are set to close lower.