Day Traders Diary
5/30/12
U.S. stocks opened sharply lower on Wednesday on worries of a potential Greek exit from the euro and as Spain's default risk climbed as it attempts to recapitalize its banks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 122 points, or 1%, to 12,457. The S&P 500 shed 14 points, or 1.1%, to 1,317. The Nasdaq Composite declined 37 points, or 1.3%, to 2,833. The current markets move with European news and the Euro. Back here, the good news is limited. The diamond of the day goes to the agricultural company, Monsanto. The stock is up 3% after raising guidance at a conference last night. Monsanto's news doesn't seem to be helping any of their competitors. Coal play, Patriot Coal is down 7% on a downgrade. The rest of the materials are lower. Hess and Freeport McMoran are lower by 3% each. Basically every sector is getting hit this morning other than the defensive utilities. In the tech space, Research in Motion is lower by 10% after preannouncing a quarterly loss. My, how the mighty have fallen. The tech titans Apple, Google, and IBM are lower. Apple received an upgrade this morning. Akamai is lower by 2% on an upgrade. Cypress Semi is lower on cautious analyst comments. Surprisingly, Facebook is one of the few techs higher for once. LinkedIn is higher on an upgrade. The retail sector has been performing well, but not today. Jos A Banks is down 7% following earnings. Macys is down 3% after reporting same store sales. Finish Line is down 4% even though they upped guidance. Darden Restaurant is down 4% on an upgrade. Best Buy was upgraded, but the stock is lower. Imagine how much these stocks would be down if the analysts weren't so bullish. Sanderson Farms is modestly higher on an upgrade. Through the first hour the averages remained weak near the lows of the day. Where did all the buyers go? The best performing sector today, Treasury bonds. The 10 year Treasury fell to a new multi-year low of 1.66%. Crazy. Through the morning the Euro moved lower so the major averages moved lower. Not many stocks are higher. The utilities, a few drug stocks, Facebook, Monsanto, and AT&T are higher and that's about it. In the afternoon the Euro currency stabilized and the averages improved. The Nasdaq rebounded thanks to a 1% rebound in Apple. Apple TV seems to be the next big thing along with iphone 5. In the last hour the averages dived lower only to rebound, but with limited success. If not for Apple's 1.25% rally, the Nasdaq would've been down more. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 160 points, or 1.3%, to 12,419, with only Intel ending higher among 30 components. The S&P 500 dropped 19 points, or 1.4%, to 1,313. All 10 S&P 500 sectors ended lower, led by pullbacks in energy and financial stocks. The Nasdaq Composite lost 33 points, or 1.2%, to 2,837. For the month that ends Thursday, the benchmark indexes are down at least 6%.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.