Day Traders Diary
04/16/2012
U.S. stocks leapt sharply higher Monday after March retail sales topped expectations, bolstering confidence in the recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 124 points to 12,973. The S&P 500 Index added 9 points to 1,379. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 13 points to 3,024. The news overseas wasn't particularly good, but our markets aren't paying attention. The analyst community is in a good mood this morning. Plenty of upgrades. In the financial space JP Morgan, Toll Brothers, Capital One, and Citigroup are all trading higher on positive comments. Citigroup reported better than expected earnings. M&T Bank is also higher on earnings. Charles Schwab is lower by 2% following in line numbers. In the tech space things are very interesting. Seagate is jumping 3% on a positive Barrons article. NCR and F5 Networks were also upgraded. IBM looks good, but the two other bellwethers Google and Apple are getting hit. Google started the sell off down 3%, but then Apple dropped as well. Those two got hit on Friday as well. Cree is down 4% even though one analyst made positive comments. Nokia is down 2% to a new low as Moodys downgraded their debt. In fact, the weakness in Google and Apple dragged the Nasdaq into the red pulling the Dow off its' highs. In the retail space Mattel is down 7% after missing estimates. Home Depot is higher on an upgrade. Dominoes Pizza is also higher on an upgrade. Kohls looks good on a positive Barrons article. After the first hour the averages quieted down with the Dow up 55 points and the Nasdaq down 25 points. Through the morning the averages rebounded and then pulled back once again. In the tech space Google and Apple remain weak. A few more financials, energy, and material stocks succumbed to profit-taking. The consumer discretionary is the weakest sector. In the afternoon the Dow bounced back toward the highs of the day, but the three high flying techs like Google, Apple, and Priceline are still weak near the lows of the day. In the last hour the Dow pulled back as the Nasdaq pushed lower led by Apple and Google. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 71 points to 12,921. The S&P 500 Index slipped 69 cents to 1369. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 22 points to 2988.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.