Day Traders Diary
10/5/11
U.S. stocks opened modestly lower following a 400 point rally in the last hour of trading Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 43 points to 10,764. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined 6 points to 1,117. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 19 points to 2,385. Typically it's custom to see a following through the next year after such a strong turnaround. The commodities and techs are seeing some strength. In the tech space, the non-Apple techs look good like Cisco, Microsoft, Intel, Dell, and HPQ. The chips look good. AMD was downgraded, but the stock is higher. Analog Devices is higher on positive analyst comments. Research in Motion is jumping 13% on takeover rumors. Akamai is jumping 7% on takeover rumors. The two stalwarts Google and Apple are lower today. Google was downgraded this morning while Apple only received two upgrades. Slow day for Apple. A drop in the US dollar has the commodity space trading up except for the oils. Monsanto is jumping 3% after beating estimates. At 10 o'clock, a better than expected non-manufacturing number sent the averages into the green. The Dow rose over 75 points before pulling back by the tail end of the morning. The Nasdaq rose over 35 points before pulling back. During the lunch hour the averages gave up all their gains while the Nasdaq remained up a percent. The techs and commodities continue to lead the markets. In the afternoon the rally ensured similar to yesterday. The Dow rose 90 points. The Nasdaq climbed 45 points. Even Google and Apple turned around. Heading into the last hour the Dow gave up most of its gains once again. The financials are solidly in the red yet the insurance stocks look good. Ford is perking up on news Moodys may increase their credit rating. That's a good sign. Ford's stock is up 4% while GM is up 3%. In the last hour the averages rebounded, but don't expect a 400 point rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 131 points, or 1.2%, at 10,939, led by a 5.5% pop in Disney. Chevron contributed 24 points to the Dow's rise, as the oil major followed oil futures' 5% surge after a drop on inventories. The S&P 500 gained 20 points, or 1.8%, to 1,144, led by chemicals, metals and energy stocks. The Nasdaq Composite rose 55 points, or 2.3%, to 2,460.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.