Day Traders Diary
1/12/12
U.S. stocks opened modestly lower on tepid retail sales in December and comments out of European regarding the risk of increased financial tensions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 8 points to 12,440. The S&P 500 fell a fraction to 1,292. The Nasdaq Composite inched up a point to 2,711. Most sectors are trading lower including the financials and the tech space. Invesco is one of the few finanicials trading higher on an upgrade. Blackrock was upgraded, but the stock is lower. In the tech space EMC, Ebay, and Google are higher on positive comments. Atmel was upgraded, but the stock is lower. Microsoft received cautious comments, but the stock is now in the green. In the energy space Chevron is down 2% on lowered guidance. The whole oil space is trading lower along with the other energy stocks. Walter Energy is bucking the trend on takeover speculation. The two sectors performing well this morning are the Materials and Industrial space. Dow Chemical is up nearly 3% this morning. For a third straight day the retail space is showing the most volatility. Big 5 Sports is down 15% this morning following dismal guidance last night. Rival, Dicks Sporting Goods, on the other hand, is jumping 9% after raising guidance and issuing a $200 million share buyback. Tractor Supply is jumping 6% after raising guidance last night. But William Sonoma is down 12% after lowering guidance this morning. Wolverine Worldwide is also down after lowering guidance. Sears is lower by 5% after CIT halted loans to the company. Target is modestly higher after issuing a $5 billion share buyback. Through the morning the averages drifted lower. The Dow fell over 50 points while the Nasdaq declined 11 points. Most investors remain on the sidelines. Through the morning and into the afternoon the averages slowly recovered. The financials once again are in the lead, a new theme as well. JP Morgan crawled back to the unchanged level ahead of earnings tomorrow morning. Most sectors have improved with only the utilities and the energy space still showing weakness. In the last hour the major averages made it back into the green. A good sign. So far I'm liking 2012. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 21 points at 12,471. The S&P 500 advanced 3 points to 1,295, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 13 points to 2,724.
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