Day Traders Diary

2/22/12

U.S. stocks opened with modest losses on Wednesday after hitting 13,000 in the Dow for the first time in over a year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 5 points to 12,960. The S&P 500 Index fell almost 2 points to 1,360. The Nasdaq Composite shed 7 points to 2,940. Investor fatigue looks to be setting in after a phenomenal run to start the year. The earnings keep coming in. On the plus side Herbalife, Nabors Industries, Intuit, Garmin, Sourcefire, Chicos, and Chiquita Brands are all up over 6% following earnings. Garmin looks good up 9% while Sourcefire is the diamond up 22%. On the downside Cheesecake , Dell, TJX, Eaton Vance, MGM, Frontier, Dollar Tree, and Donaldson are lower on earnings. The one variable that needs to be watched is oil trading around $106 a barrel. Coincidently, the energy sector is the top performing sector. On the flip side, the consumer discretionary sector is succumbing to weakness even though a number of retailers, in particular high end retailers, continue to report strong earnings. Urban Outfitter is higher by 3% on an upgrade. The transports are also selling off. The rest of the sectors are mixed. In the tech space Google and Apple are under pressure. Intel was upgraded, but the stock is lower. Brocade is higher by 4% after beating estimates. Dell is down 6% following disappointing numbers last night. HP reports tonight. Through the first hour the averages held up near the unchanged level only selling off later in the morning. Heading into lunch hour the Dow fell 50 points while the Nasdaq declined 18 points. In the afternoon most sectors remained in the red as the Dow rebounded. IBM looks good just under its' 52 week high dragging the Dow back to the unchanged level. The defensive sectors like utilities and healthcare are perking up as well. In the last hour the averages pulled back for a down day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 27 points at 12,938, its first down day in four. The S&P 500 fell 4 points to 1,357, also quitting three straight days of gains. The Nasdaq Composite fell 15 points to 2,933, its' third down day in a row.

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