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October 9, 2018: Markets opened mixed Tuesday and equities seesawed around the break-even line for most of the day. Investors seem willing to wait until we begin hearing about Q3 earnings. That all starts Friday when some of the nation’s big banks spill the beans. The energy sector was the day’s best performer while industrials and basic materials lagged.

WTI crude oil for November delivery settled at $74.96 a barrel, up about 0.9% for the day.  December gold added about 0.2% to settle at $1,191.50. Equities were heading for a narrowly mixed close about 10 minutes before the bell as the Dow traded down 0.18% for the day, the S&P 500 traded down 0.10%, and the Nasdaq Composite traded up 0.12%.

Equity indexes traded very near the break-even line just minutes before the closing bell. The closing tally could show either a small gain or a small loss for any of the indexes.

Bitcoin futures (XBTV8) for October delivery traded at $6,590, down about 0.5% on the Cboe after opening at $6,615 this morning. The trading range today was $6,535 to $6,620.

The Dow stock posting the largest daily percentage gain ahead of the close Tuesday was DowDuPont Inc. (NYSE: DWDP) which traded down 3.82%% at $60.75 in a 52-week range of $60.61 to $77.08, and the low was set this afternoon. Volume was about 40% above the daily average of around 6 million shares.

United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) traded down 2.61% at $135.94. The stock’s 52-week range is $115.40 to $144.15. Volume was about equal to the daily average of around 3.6 million.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) traded down 2.59% at $149.38. The 52-week range on the stock is $127.27 to $173.24. Volume was 10% below the daily average of around 4.5 million.

3M Company (NYSE: MMM) traded down 2.03% at $210.02. The stock’s 52-week range is $190.57 to $259.77. Volume was about equal to the daily average of around 2.2 million shares.

Of the Dow stocks, 13 were set to close higher Tuesday and 17 were on track to close lower.