Day Traders Diary
04/24/2012
U.S. stocks opened mostly higher Tuesday as investors considered solid earnings from companies including Dow component 3M but took a caution stance ahead of additional economic data on consumer confidence and home sales. The Dow Jones Industrial rose 34 points to 12,961. The S&P 500 inched up a point to 1,367. The Nasdaq Composite fell 3 points to 2,966. The earnings are flooding in with better than expected results. However, there are a few bombshells out there. In the retail space, Big Lots is down 20% after warning about earnings. Netflix is down 12% after reporting a quarterly loss. Coach and Radio Shack are down over 4% on earnings while Hershey is jumping 6% on earnings. Illinois Tool Works is higher by 2% following earnings and raised guidance. The financials are trading higher for the most part this morning although Ameriprise, CIT Group, Zion Bancorp, and Janus are lower on earnings. T Rowe Price is up 2% on earnings. In the tech space mixed results so far. IBM looks great after hiking their dividend and increasing their share buyback. Google looks good as well, but a number of techs are lower. Texas Instruments, Symantec, and Lexmark are lower following earnings. In the energy space Baker Hughes and Weatherford are higher on earnings. AK Steel and US Steel are lower on earnings. In the industrial space United Tech, Parker Hannifin, and 3M are higher on earnings. Earnings in general look pretty darn good. Through the first hour thanks in part to better than expected economic data, the Dow rose over 100 points. The Nasdaq can't seem to get going thanks in large part to Apple. Apple is down a percent ahead of earnings tonight. Apple's weakness is attributed to AT&T's earnings and the number of iphones they signed up in the quarter. AT&T on the other hand looks good up 3.5%. Through the morning the Dow improved rising 120 points. The Nasdaq inched into the green. In the afternoon the Dow gave up more of its gains being dragged down by Walmart. The Nasdaq dropped back into the red as Apple pushed lower down nearly 3%. Apple has declined 10 out of the last 11 trading days as many mutual fund managers are paring their gains. In the last hour the averages tried to put in a rally. Juniper is rallying as they released earnings early. Cisco is rallying in sympathy. Apple put in one rebound, but then pulled back into the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 74 points at 13,001. The S&P 500 rose 5 points to 1,371. The Nasdaq Composite declined 8 points to 2,961.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.