Day Traders Diary
04/18/2012
U.S. stocks started lower Wednesday as investors voiced disappointment with quarterly results from technology bellwethers Intel and International Business Machines. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 65 points to 13,050, with Intel and IBM down the most among its 30 components. The S&P 500 shed 5 points to 1,385 while the Nasdaq Composite fell just 6 points to 3,035. The Nasdaq is holding up thanks to a continued rebound in Apple. That's an amazing stock. Elsewhere in tech, Yahoo is up 3% following earnings. Seagate is up 5% following earnings. Cree is down 6% on a downgrade while Baidu.com is lower on cautious analyst comments. In the financial space PNC and Huntington Bancorp are higher following earnings. Capital One and and Blackstone are higher on upgrades. Piper Jaffray and Blackrock are lower following earnings. Berkshire Hathaway is lower following news Warren Buffett disclosed he has prostate cancer. In the energy space Halliburton is jumping 4% on earnings. Patriot Coal is higher on an upgrade. Chesapeake Energy is lower by 10% on news the CEO borrowed a billion dollars from the company. What's a billion here or there. Through the first hour the averages remain in the red, but no further weakness which is surprising. Through the morning the averages remained in the red. Apple fell into the red, but not by much. The news out of Spain isn't getting any better sparking concerns out of Europe. In the afternoon the selling accelerated with the Dow falling 80 points and the Nasdaq declining 18 points. Heading into the last hour the averages put in an impressive rebound. The Nasdaq moved into the green led by Apple and Google. Truly amazing. The Dow recovered as well even though IBM remains down 3.5%. More earnings are coming out tonight from the likes of American Express, Ebay, F5 Networks, Qualcomm, VMware, Yum Brands, and Marriott. In the last hour the averages sold off back toward the lows of the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 82 points at 13,032, led by a 3.5% drop in IBM shares. The S&P 500 lost 5 points to 1,385. The Nasdaq declined 11 points to 3,031.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.