Day Traders Diary
12/10/08
The bad economic news keeps flowing in, but Wallstreet isn't listening. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 82 points to 8,773. GM is higher on hopes of a bailout. The S&P 500 Index is up 7 points to 896 while the Nasdaq Composite inched up 9 points to 1,557. I'm scratching my head looking for a reason why we're up because the news is so bad. A plethora of job cuts, store closings, and downgrades this morning. In the retail space, Office Depot is closing stores cutting jobs. Sony is issuing bonds for the first time in three years to raise cash. Kodak is down 6% after withdrawing guidance. Nike is down 4% after a downgrade and having their numbers cut. The dog of the day goes to Electronic Arts, down 14%, after cutting guidance. Things are so bad, people aren't playing video games. The financials are trying to hold in there, but the news isn't good. American Express is down 6% on two downgrades to sell ratings. Visa, Mastercard, and Paychex were all downgraded at Cowen. All three are down over 2%. GE is modestly higher on a downgraded. Wells Fargo is down 3% even though the CEO said the housing market is bottoming. I think we've heard that before. The commodities are higher although the potash companies are lowering guidance. The techs look pretty good. Google's android phone seems to be gaining support from other telecom companies. Yahoo is up 6% as shareholders want them to sell all or part of the company maybe to Microsoft. After the first hour the Dow was up 120 points. The Nasdaq 24 points. I'm not complaining, but I am still scratching my head. Entering the lunch hour the Dow rose another 20 points to 140 point rally even though Citigroup, Bank of America, American Express, and Walmart are lower. The Nasdaq is up 22 points. The techs look good although Apple is lower. In the afternoon the financials began to sell off. That's not good. Through the afternoon, more and more Dow components moved into the red including GM. At the start of the last hour, the averages were unchanged. This market has been resilient to bad news today. In the last hour, the Governor of California said the state deficit has grown by $3 billion in the last 10 days yet the averages moved higher. Go figure. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 70 points at 8,761. The S&P 500 Index rose 10 points to 899, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 18 points to 1,565.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.