The Dow Rides Caterpillar, Intel to Tiny Gain Tuesday

March 6, 2018 by Paul Ausick

March 6, 2018: Markets opened higher Tuesday and never strayed far from the break-even line all day. Uncertainty over the President’s threatened tariffs has kept traders from making a determined move higher even though the general sentiment seems to be that the effects of any tariffs will not be large.

WTI crude oil for April delivery settled at $62.60 a barrel, up 3 cents for the day. April gold added 1.2% on the day to settle at $1,335.20. Equities were headed for a narrowly higher close about 10 minutes before the bell as the Dow traded up 0.04% for the day, the S&P 500 traded up 0.23%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 0.52%.

Bitcoin futures (XBTH8) for March delivery traded at $10,590, down about 8.5% on the CBOE after opening at $11,600 this morning. The digital currency’s trading range for the day was $10,5500 to $11,650.

The Dow stock posting the largest daily percentage loss ahead of the close Tuesday was Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) which traded up 1.82% at $153.87. The stock’s 52-week range is $90.34 to $173.24. Volume was about 20% below the daily average of around 5.8 million. The company had no specific news.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) traded up 1.81% at $50.65. The stock’s 52-week range is $33.23 to $51.33, and the high was posted this morning. Volume was about 10% below the daily average of about 35 million. The company had no specific news today.

DowDuPont Inc. (NYSE: DWDP) traded up 1.71% at $70.85. The stock’s 52-week range is $59.29 to $77.08. Volume was nearly 33% below the daily average of around 8.2 million shares. The company had no specific news.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) traded up 1.53% at $14.64. The stock’s 52-week range is $13.95 to $30.54. Volume was about 40% below the daily average of around 88 million shares. The company had no specific news.

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

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