Day Traders Diary
4/1/11
U.S. stocks started the new month on a high note after the government reported employers in March added more jobs than expected and the unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 8.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 51 points to 12,371. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed 7 points to 1,333. The Nasdaq Composite added 12 points to 2,793. A new month and a new quarter, but the same old sectors look good like the commodities. Fertilizers, oils, steels, coal, iron ore stocks look good. Mosaic is up 2% even though it was downgrades. One copper Freeport McMoran is down a percent on the open. The industrial names like Caterpillar and Deere are up trading at a new 52 week highs. The techs are modestly higher led by the familiar names like Apple, Google, and IBM. Intel, Dell, and Research in Motion are modestly lower. EMC is higher on an upgrade. Baidu.com was downgraded, but the stock is higher. Motorola Mobility is unchanged on a downgrade. Nokia is lower on a downgrade. The big loser is Logitech down 17% after lowering guidance. After the first half an hour the financials perked up. That's a good sign. Huntington Bancshares is up 3% on an upgrade. After the first hour the Dow rose over 80 points above 12400 for the first time in two and a half years. The Nasdaq jumped 13 points. The financials are in the lead today. The Dow Jones Transporation Average is at a new high for the year as well. FedEx is up 3% on an upgrade. US Airways is up 3% as well on an upgrade. Tata Motors is higher after reporting better than expected March sales. GM is modestly higher after reporting sales numbers. So far the first day of the new quarter is no April fools. Through the morning the averages remain strong near the highs of the day. A number of techs and commodities pulled back, but the financials still look good. In the afternoon the averages moved sideways only to sell off heading into the last hour led by the techs. In the last hour the techs and the Nasdaq fell into the red with Apple dropping 1.5%. Intel is down nearly 3%. The rest of the market is giving up its' gains, but rebounded into the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 56 points at 12,376, led by more than 1% gains in General Electric and Caterpillar. The S&P 500 gained 6 points to 1,332. The Nasdaq Composite added 8 points to 2,789. For the week, the Dow gained 1.3%, the S&P 500 rose 1.4%, and the Nasdaq advanced 1.7%. It was the second week of gains for all three averages.All comments contained herein are for informational purposes only, and should not be considered as a solicitation to buy or sell any security. The firm does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information or make any warranties regarding results from it's usage.