Day Traders Diary
7/18/11
U.S. stocks started sharply lower, the first day of a busy week of earnings, as investors fret about Europe's troubles and the debate over lifting the U.S. debt ceiling. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell a quick 70 points to 12,409. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined 5 points to 1,310. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 8 points to 2,780. Every sector is weak this morning. In the tech space Sandisk, Linkin, and Netflix are lower on downgrades. VMware, F5 Networks, and Intel are modestly higher on upgrades. Ebay was upgraded, but the stock is modestly lower. Apple and Google are modesty higher. Apple reports later this week while Google reported spectacular earnings last week. The commodities in general are lower. Halliburton is modestly higher after beating estimates. Freeport McMoran is modestly higher, but that's about it for the sector. Kodiak Oil and Gas is lower after announcing they will issue more shares. The financials remain the weakest link. Bank of America is at a new 52 week low. Allstate is down 4% on a downgrade. The European banks look awful. Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse are both down over 4% on European concerns. Through the first hour the averages pushed lower with the Dow dropping 150 points and the Nasdaq declining 33 points. On the earnings front, Hasbro is down 4% following better than expected numbers. News Corp is down 2% after one of their top editors was arrested over the email hacking scandal. That's not good. As the morning progressed the averages did not improve. Apple is one of the few stocks trading higher actually making a new 52 week and all time high, but that's it for the good news. IBM was higher, but has since fallen into the red ahead of earnings tonight. Tomorrow a number of other big cap techs report including Apple, Yahoo, and VMware. The big banks like Bank of America and Goldman Sachs report tomorrow. Hopefully they can turn around that sector which is getting slaughtered today. In the afternoon the averages remained weak bouncing off the lows in the last hour. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 94 points at 12,385 led by a 2.8% pullback in Bank of America. Only Chevron closed higher on the 30-member index. The S&P 500 slipped 10 points to 1,305 led by a 1.4% drop in its financials index. The Nasdaq Composite lost 24 points to 2,765. The dollar index strengthened to 75.37 and gold futures closed at a record $1,602.40 an ounce.
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.