Day Traders Diary
6/3/11
U.S. stocks slid sharply on Friday after the government reported tepid jobs growth in May, with the addition of 54,000 to nonfarm payrolls, a fraction of the increase expected by many analysts. "The employment report simply states that the U.S. economy is slipping again, maybe temporarily maybe not, only time will tell," said Kevin Giddis, a fixed-income analyst at Morgan Keegan. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 124 points to 12,124. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 13 points to 1,299. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 28 points to 2,745. The economic news isn't good, but the analysts are more bullish. Plenty of upgrades in all sectors this morning. In the oil space Exxon Mobil, Hess, Noble, Halliburton, and Petro bras were all upgraded, but most are lower. In the financial sector only Goldman Sachs is higher on rumors of a settlement on their mortgage mess. Jefferies was upgraded, but the stock is lower. In the tech space Seagate, Adobe, and Autodesk were upgraded, but all three are lower. Research in Motion is lower on a downgrade. Through the first half an hour the averages slowly recovered. The financials and a select number of commodities are turning into the green. Through the morning the averages fought to recover. News out of Europe of more aid to Greece helped the Euro rally verse the US dollar. Within the Dow three financials and Wal-Mart are in the green. Wal-Mart announced a $15 share buyback and upped the dividend at their annual shareholder meeting. In the afternoon the averages remained in the red, but off the lows of the day. The Dow remained down about 50 points with the financials as the best performing sector. The commodities are also holding up well. Heading into the last hour the averages sold back off with the Dow dropping over 90 points. Here we go again. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 97points to 12,151, with Caterpillar and United Technologies shares weighing on the major average. The S&P 500 lost 12 points, or 1%, to 1,300 with telecom and tech the sectors posting the steepest losses. The Nasdaq Composite fell 40 points, or 1.5%, to 2,732. For the week, the Dow average lost 2.3%, its fifth straight week of losses, for its longest loss streak since 2004. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also lost 2.3%.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.