Day Traders Diary
03/23/12
U.S. stocks began virtually flat Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 positioned for their largest weekly decline this year. The Dow Industrials dropped 13 points to 13,032. The S&P 500 fell half a point to 1,392. The Nasdaq Composite inched up to 3,063. On the earnings front Nike, Micron, and KB Homes are lower by more than 3%. All three have performed well to start the year. Elsewhere in the retail space Best Buy, Dollar General, and Gamestop are higher on positive comments. Michael Kors is down 3% after announcing a secondary offering. Lions Gate Entertainment is lower following the release of Hunger Games last night. The tech space is quiet on very little news. Even Apple is modestly lower. The financials are modestly higher. Goldman, Discover, Deutsche Bank, and Morgan Stanley are higher on upgrades. American Express is lower even though it was upgraded. The energy space is bouncing back following a couple down days. Silver Wheaton is higher by 5% even though they missed estimates. All the oils are higher. Mosaic is up 2% on an upgrade. Through the morning the averages battled back with the Dow moving into the green thanks to the financials, energy space, and healthcare. The Nasdaq is in the red, but not by much. One sector that doesn't want to verify the rally is transports. Oil is higher putting the transports into a 3% correction. Other than that everything is sunny. Through the morning into the afternoon the Dow pushed higher thanks to financials, energy, and materials. Telecom, transports, and techs are still struggling. The price of oil has rebounded up 1.6%. Through the rest of the afternoon the averages held on to modest gains. The averages don't want to close in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 34 points to 13,080. It lost 1.2% for the week, its worst week since mid-December. The S&P 500 rose 4 points to 1,397. It lost 0.5% for the week, its worst week of the year and broke five straight weeks of gains. The Nasdaq Composite rose 4 points to 3,067.92, up 0.4% for the week.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.