Day Traders Diary
4/19/11
U.S. stocks began higher on Tuesday as first-quarter earnings from Johnson & Johnson and Goldman Sachs Group helped lifted investor sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 33 points to 12,235. J&J is trading up 2%. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 3 points to 1,308. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 8 points to 2,744. The earnings are starting to flood in. Within the financials Goldman looks good up 1.5%. State Street and Eaton are trading higher following earnings. Zions Bancorp is up 4% following earnings. US Bancorp and Regions are lower following earnings. In the tech sector Texas Instruments is modestly lower following earnings last night. The company did take a charge for a disruption in Japanese manufacturing. Intel is one of the few chips higher ahead of earnings tonight. IBM also reports tonight, but the stock is modestly lower. Seagate is down 3% following earnings and a deal to buy Samsung's disk drive business. Dell is modestly lower after an analyst lowered numbers this morning. The weakness in the tech dragged the Nasdaq into the red within the first hour. The financials also moved lower including Goldman. That's not a good sign. The strongest sector is the commodity space. Halliburton is up 3% following an upgrade. The higher gas prices don't seem to be helping Harley Davidson. The stock is down 4% after missing estimates. Through the morning the rally fizzled. The Nasdaq declined 8 points while the Dow reached the unchanged level before bouncing. The commodities remain the strongest sector. In the afternoon the averages improved with the Dow rising 40 points led by the commodities and drug stocks. Apple nudged back into the green led by Apple. Apple reports earnings tomorrow night. In the last hour the averages continued to improve led by commodities and a select number of techs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 65 points at 12,266. The S&P 500 rose 7 points to 1,312, led by a 1.8% rise in material stocks. The Nasdaq Composite rose 9 points to 2,744.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.