Day Traders Diary

9/7/11

U.S. stocks opened higher on Wednesday on reports President Barack Obama would propose a $300 billion package to boost jobs. A German court ruling upholding the country's involvement in bailing out the nation's struggling neighbors also bolstered sentiment. After a three day losing streak, the Dow Jones Industrial Average opened higher by 120 points to 11,259. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 14 points to 1,179. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 35 points to 2,508. Plenty of news hitting the markets this morning. First the firings. Yahoo is up 6% after firing their CEO. Bank of America is up 4% after shaking up their top management team. All the financials are trading higher this morning for once. UBS is up 3% on an upgrade. Capital One is up 4% on an upgrade. On the merger front, Walter Energy is jumping 26% on takeover rumors. Conoco Phillips and Chevron are higher on positive comments. In the tech space, the chips look good. Nvidia is jumping 5% after they raised their quarterly guidance. Altera initially traded lower last night following their guidance, but has turned around this morning. Micron, AMD, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, and Intel all look good. Research in Motion is one of the few techs trading lower. During the first hour the averages improved only to fall back to where they started the day. In the retail space, Darden Restaurant is down 3% following earnings. Urban Outfitters is also lower after issuing weaker guidance in their 10-Q. Dicks and William Sonoma are higher on upgrades. Talbots missed earnings estimates, but the stock is higher. Office Max lowered guidance, but the stock is jumping 5%. Go figure. Pep Boys is up 5% following earnings. GM is jumping 4% on an upgrade. So far so good this morning. Through the morning the averages remained strong making new highs in the afternoon. Comments in the Beige book at 2 o'clock sent the averages to new highs, even though the economic news remains bleak. In the last hour the averages kept improving. It looks like the first up day for the month of September. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 275 points, or 2.5%, at 11,414. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed 33 points, or 2.9%, to 1,198. The Nasdaq Composite Index tacked on 75 points, or 3%, to end at 2,548.

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