Nike, UnitedHealth Lift Dow on Tuesday

April 3, 2018 by Paul Ausick

April 3, 2018: Markets opened higher Tuesday and look set to close with a nice gain after Monday’s debacle. The Nasdaq Composite twice briefly dipped into the red, but the tech stocks made a comeback in the late afternoon. The long-awaited Spotify IPO went out at $169.50 a share, but has since pulled back to around $150.50.

WTI crude oil for May delivery settled at $63.51 a barrel, up about 0.8% for the day. June gold dropped about 0.7% on the day to settle at $1,337.30. Equities were headed for a higher close about 10 minutes before the bell as the Dow traded up 1.42% for the day, the S&P 500 traded up 1.08%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 0.95%.

Bitcoin futures (XBTJ8) for April delivery traded at $7,500, up about 7.4% on the CBOE after opening at $6,970 this morning. The digital currency’s trading range for the day was $6,970 to $7,510.

The Dow stock posting the largest daily percentage gain ahead of the close Tuesday was Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) which traded up 3.60% at $66.43. The stock’s 52-week range is $50.35 to $70.25. Volume was about 25% lower than the daily average of around 8.2 million. The company had no specific news.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) traded up 3.08% at $223.90 in a 52-week range of $164.60 to $250.79. Volume of about 3.5 million shares was about 10% below the daily average. The company had no specific news.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) traded up 2.81% at $128.06. The stock’s 52-week range is $120.95 to $148.32. Volume was about 30% below the daily average of around 8.2 million. The company had no specific news.

DowDuPont Inc. (NYSE: DWDP) traded up 2.06% at $63.32. The stock’s 52-week range is $59.29 to $77.08. Volume was about 10% below the daily average of around 9.1 million shares. The company had no specific news Monday.

Of the Dow stocks, 29 are on track to close higher Tuesday and just one (GE) is set to close lower.

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