Day Traders Diary

2/28/12

U.S. stocks tallied tepid gains on Tuesday ahead of a report on consumer confidence. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2 points to 12,978. The S&P 500 Index added nearly a point to 1,368. The Nasdaq Composite rose 6 points to 2,972. A weak durable goods number out premarket is adding to the tepid rally. On the earnings front, Dominos Pizza is jumping 10% on earnings. Priceline is up 7% to an all time high after easily beating estimates. Autozone is higher by 2% on earnings. In the financial space Bank of Montreal is higher on earnings. Morgan Stanley is lower on concerns the company will have to raise capital on a debt downgrade. The rest of the financials are quiet. JP Morgan is modestly higher ahead of analyst day. After the first half an hour the averages rebounded on a better than expected consumer confidence number. The techs look good. Apple is at an all time high. Google is up 1.5%. The chips are perking up. Memory chip company, Micron has performed well of late. Intel is just under its 52 week high. At the end of the first hour the Dow hit 13,000 once again. The major averages keep testing the yearly highs, but haven't broken through yet. Oil has been one of the biggest sticking points keeping the averages from breaking out. Rowan is down 3% following earnings. ESV is low on a downgrade. Hess is lower after announcing a shelf offering that will dilute the stock in the short term. Transocean and Diamond Offshore are higher on upgrades. Through the morning the averages remained in the green just under the highs of the year. The utilities, healthcare, and transports are the weakest sectors. Something has to give, oil or the stock market. In the afternoon the averages gave up most of their gains, but didn't fall into the red. The market doesn't want to rally or sell off. In the last hour the Dow rebounded to close above 13,000 for the first time since May 2008. About time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 23 points at 13,005. The S&P 500 gained 4 points to 1,372, its fourth straight session of gains. The Nasdaq Composite added 20 points to 2,986, also its fourth day of gains.

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