Day Traders Diary
12/15/08
The averages are set to open modestly higher ahead of a big week. The Fed has a two day meeting and is expected to cut rates tomorrow. We will learn more about the financials and techs this week as Goldman, Morgan Stanley, Adobe, and Oracle report earnings. The autos are also awaiting news from the Bush administration regarding the sized of the rescue package. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 14 points to 8,644. The S&P 500 climbed 2 points to 882. The Nasdaq Composite fell a point to 1,539. It didn't take long for the averages to fall into the red. The commodity sector is one of the few bright spots this morning. Oil is inching closer to $50 a barrel. The tech sector is under modest selling pressure. Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, and Apple were all downgraded. The financials are in the red. JP Morgan is down 5% on a downgrade. Northern Trust is down 2% after announcing a pre-tax loss for the quarter. The NY Post ran a story indicating that Morgan Stanley will lose a billion dollars this quarter, however the stock is higher. The retailers are mixed. Best Buy was upgraded and downgraded. The company reports earnings tomorrow. GM and Ford are modestly higher. A few bright spots, Honeywell and Aetna are both up 7% after reaffirming guidance. Unitedhealth Group is up 4% as the healthcare sector slowly improves. After the first half an hour the Dow was down 50 points. The Nasdaq declined 20 points. Through the morning the averages remained weak with the Dow dropping as much as 100 points. The commodity and healthcare sectors are showing a little life, but that's about it. In the afternoon the averages remained weak. Oil did a reverse course sending the commodities lower. Entering the last hour the Dow was down 150 points. The Nasdaq declined 40 points. In the last hour the averages were able to rebound a little bit. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 65 points at 8,564. The S&P 500 index lost 11 points to close at 868, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 32 points, or 2%, to 1,508.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.