Day Traders Diary

1/13/09

U.S. stocks headed for a fifth straight session of losses at Tuesday's open, with disappointing earnings from Alcoa and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's warning of further economic weakness. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 33 points to 8,444. Alcoa is down 4% following earnings. The S&P 500 index fell 2 points to 868, while the Nasdaq Composite lost a point to 1,538. The financials, particularly the big banks, remain in focus. Citigroup is down 6% and Bank of America is off 4% on worries of their earnings outlook. Yesterday there were plenty of downgrades and guidance being lowered. Today is no different. In the tech sector, Applied Materials, KLA-Tencor, Nvidia, Amazon, Google, Corning, Adobe, and Lexmark were either downgraded or lowered their guidance. Outside the tech sector, Marathon Oil and Rogers Communication both lowered guidance. Deere is down 50% from its highs within the last year. Today, JP Morgan indicated farm sales may have already peaked. Gee, you think? After the first half an hour the averages started to improve, but not the financials. GE is down 5% on a dowgrade and rumors of a possible debt downgrade. Best Buy is lower after Barrons Online wrote a negative article. After the first hour the Nasdaq and commodities started to improve. The financials remain the weakest sector. Entering the lunch hour the averages nudged into the green. Even the financials are modestly in the green including Citigroup. Citigroup is expected to announce a deal with Morgan Stanley regarding the brokerage division tonight and possibly another restructuring plan. In the afternoon the Dow fell back in the red. Nothing really looks good anymore. Cigna came out and said their capital position remains strong. The stock, however, is down 6%. Entering the last hour the averages battled back to the unchanged level, then sold off, only to rebound once again. Let's see what Citigroup has to say. The
Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 25 points to 8,448. The S&P 500 gained a point to 871, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 7 points to 1,546.

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