Day Traders Diary

5/5/11

U.S. stocks opened lower on Thursday, extending losses into a fourth day for two of the three benchmark indexes, as equities and commodities get hit again after a surprise rise in jobless claims. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 70 points to 12,652. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined 10 points to 1,337. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 14 points to 2,813. Stocks don't seem to be rallying anymore following earnings. The list of stocks trading lower after earnings include Transocean, Atmel, Prudential, Metlife, Cablevision, Orbitz, GM, Fortune Brands, Sara Lee, Huntsman, Progressive Energy, Pride International, and Frontier Oil. The commodity plays keep reporting spectacular earnings, but the sector is under profit-taking. The retail sector report strong April sales thanks to the later Easter, but investors were not impressed. Most retailers are lower. Aeropostale is down 11% after lowering guidance. Estee Lauder is one of the few trading higher following earnings. GM had great earnings, raised guidance, but the stock is lower. Telsa Motors is higher after beating estimates. After the first half an hour the averages started to rebound led by commodities and techs. In the tech space Apple, Google, and the high flying techs look good. The financials and insurance stocks are lower. Metlife and Prudential are both lower following earnings. After the first hour the Dow sold back off dropping 80 points. The Nasdaq declined 8 points. It looks like we're in a correction. Through the morning the Dow fell over 100 points before rebounding. The Nasdaq is holding up better thanks to the old tech and the highflying tech. Commodity stocks are bouncing modestly even as commodity prices for silver, oil, and gold move sharply lower. In the afternoon the averages tried to rallying a couple of times, but failed. In the last hour the selling accelerated in the commodity space. The price of oil futures is down 10% today. I wish the price at the pump fell as quickly. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 139 points, or 1.1%, to end at 12,584, its worst point slide since April 18th. The Nasdaq Composite fell 13 points to 2814, while the S&P 500 dropped 12 points to 1335. Both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 are down everyday this week.

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