24/7 Wall St.

July 12, 2017: Markets opened solidly higher Wednesday and got an assist from Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s dovish testimony.  All 11 S&P sectors are headed for a positive close, led by tech and real estate stocks. The financial sector is showing the smallest gain for the day. WTI crude oil for August delivery settled at $45.49 a barrel, up 1% on the day, following a bullish inventory report couple with a bearish production report. August gold added 0.4% on the day to settle at $1,219.10. Equities were headed for a higher close shortly before the bell as the DJIA traded up 0.61% for the day, the S&P 500 traded up 0.77%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 1.16%.

The DJIA stock posting the largest daily percentage gain ahead of the close Wednesday was E.I. du Pont de Nemours Inc. (NYSE: DD) which traded up 2.71% at $84.81. The stock’s 52-week range is $65.87 to $84.83 and the high was posted this afternoon. Volume was about a third lower than the daily average of around 2.4 million. The company had no specific news.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) traded up 1.67% at $71.16. The stock’s 52-week range is $52.93 to $72.89. Volume was about less than half the daily average of about 25 million shares. The company had no specific news Wednesday.

The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) traded up 1.29% at $152.54 The stock’s 52-week range is $119.20 to $160.86. Volume was about 25% below the daily average of around 4.3 million shares. The company had no specific news Wednesday.

McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) traded up 1.09% at $156.60. The stock’s 52-week range is $110.33 to $156.69, a new high posted this afternoon. Volume was less than half the daily average of around 3.5 million shares. The company had no specific news.

Of the Dow stocks, 29 are on track to close higher Wednesday and just 1 (JPMorgan Chase) is set to close lower.