Day Traders Diary
11/18/11
U.S. stocks opened mostly higher on Friday after a two-day slide, with investors relieved over falling bond yields in Spain and Italy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 42 points to 11,813. The S&P 500 Index added 2 points to 1,218. The Nasdaq Composite fell 4 points to 2,583. The earnings keep coming in. Marvell looks good up 5% on better than expected earnings. Software developer, Blue Coat is jumping 11% on earnings. Intuit is higher as well following earnings, but Salesforce.com is down 8% after disappointing earnings. Seagate and Intel are lower after having their numbers cut due to the Thailand flood while HP is jumping 3% ahead of earnings on Monday. Cree is jumping 3% on an upgrade. In the retail space Foot Locker is higher following earnings. Nike is higher on a dividend hike. McDonalds is higher on positive comments from Barrons. Gap is down 2% following earnings even though they will initiate a share buyback. Heinz is lower following earnings. In the commodity space the materials look good. The fertilizers like Agrium, Potash, and CF Industries are all higher on upgrades and positive comments. Through the first hour the Dow remained in the green, but off the highs. The Nasdaq is in the red. Through the morning the averages rebounded with the Dow rising as much as 80 points only to give up most of the gains once again. A lot of volatility this week with no volume. Scary scenario. The Nasdaq is still in the red. The techs are mixed. The energy stocks are lower, but the defensive positions like utilities and consumer stables look good. In these volatile times, investors want safety and security. Through the afternoon not much changed. Even in the last hour, the averages did not vacillate much. Phillip Morris is the diamond of the day making a new all time high to end the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 25 points to end at 11,796. Despite closing in the black Friday, the Dow posted weekly losses of 2.9%. The S&P declined half a point to 1,215, notching a weekly lose of 3.8%. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended 15 points lower at 2,572. On the week, the Nasdaq declined 4%.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.