Day Traders Diary
7/8/11
Our two week rally came to a halt today due to another disappointing monthly unemployment number. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 103 points to 12,617. The S&P 500 lost 13 points, or 1%, to 1,340. The Nasdaq Composite fell 27 points to 2,846. The bulls were forecasting 125,000 new nonfarm payroll jobs for the month of June. Some estimates were even higher, but the actual number came in much lower at just 18,000. The averages dropped sharply on the open with very few stocks in the green. An employment company, Monster Worldwide sank 6% following the lackluster numbers. The financials look awful once again. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are lower after having their earnings estimates cut. Visa and Bank of Montreal were upgraded, but the stocks are lower. The techs are weak. Google is down 2% on a downgrade. Western Digital and EMC were upgraded, but both stocks are lower. Apple is modestly higher on an upgrade. The commodities are weak. Pioneer Natural Resources was upgraded, but the stock is down 2%. In the retail space, Dicks Sporting Goods is down 6% after making cautious comments about the quarter. TJX is up on an upgrade, but it also was downgraded. Through the morning the averages moved lower with the Dow dropping as much as 130 points and the Nasdaq declining 40 points. No good news today. In the afternoon the averages remained weak with a few more stocks inching into the green. The commodities in general have recovered with the fertilizers modestly in the green. Apple is higher in the tech space. Merck remains the only Dow component in the green. Heading into the last hour the Dow was down less than 100 points as many of the commodities have come back. The Nasdaq remained weak down 25 points. In the last hour the averages continued to improve closing at the best levels of the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 62 points at 12,657, led by a 2% decline in Bank of America. The S&P 500 fell 9 points, or 0.7%, to 1,343. It was the first down session in three for both indexes. The Nasdaq Composite lost 12 points to 2,859. For the week, the Dow average gained 0.6%, the S&P 500 added 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.6%.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.