Day Traders Diary
02/09/2012
U.S. stocks opened modestly higher Thursday as Greek political leaders reached an austerity deal and U.S. jobless claims fell last week in another indication the labor market is recovering. "We're continuing with that trend of better-than-expected claims," said Michael Gibbs, director of equity strategy at Morgan Keegan. "The bullish bias is still there for now." The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 30 points to 12,914. The S&P 500 Index advanced 2 points to 1,352. The Nasdaq Composite gained 5 points to 2,920. All the news seems pretty good. Greece is coming around, The US growth is improving, and the earnings keep coming in better than expected. On the earnings front Visa, Whole Foods, Akamai Tech, Lorillard, Bunge, Diageo, and Hawaiian Electronics are higher on earnings. Atmel, Cisco, Irobot, Prudential, KKR, Noble Energy, Manulife, and Credit Suisse are lower on earnings. The dog of the day goes to Diamond Foods down 35% after admitting they will have to restate earnings for the last two years due to accounting irregularities. Through the morning the averages gave up some of their gains actually falling into the red. The financials are lower along with the healthcare space, Industrials, and consumer discretionary. In the tech space Apple keeps pushing higher inching closer to $500 a share. Someone upgraded it with a $623 price target. Heading into the lunch hour the averages fought back into the green. Through the afternoon the averages moved sideways. It's turning out to be a flat week. That's not a bad thing. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 6 points at 12,890, its highest close since May 2008. The S&P 500 rose 2 points to 1,351, its' highest since July 2011. The Nasdaq Composite gained 11 points to 2,927, its' highest close since December 2000
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