Day Traders Diary
6/7/12
U.S. stocks opened with strong gains Thursday after China cut interest rates for the first time since 2008, furthering hope for additional moves by global central banks, including the Federal Reserve. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 122 points, or 1%, to 12,537. The S&P 500 climbed 12 points, or 1%, to 1,327. The Nasdaq Composite added 23 points, or 0.8%, to 2,868. The best day of the year is followed by another great start to the day. Everything looks good once again. Energy, materials, and industrials are leading the way once again. Kodiak Oil & Gas is jumping 4% on an upgrade. The big oil companies are higher. Halliburton is unchanged on a downgrade. Agrium is up a percent after hiking their dividend. Gold miner, Newmont Mining is lower once again even though the stock has held up well in the previous weeks. The financials look good thing morning. M&T Bank, Regions Financial, and Keycorp are higher on upgrades. Pulte Group is up 4% following earnings yesterday and an upgrade today. REIT, Northstar Realty firm is down 4% on a stock offering. The best performing sector this year, retail, is under pressure for a second straight day. Yesterday it was the mattress companies. Today it's apparel makers. Lululemon is down 8% on earnings while Men' Wearhouse is down 15% following earnings. Under Armour is down in sympathy. Tempur Pedic is down once again on a downgrade. JM Smuckers is higher on an upgrade. After the open the averages slowly gave up some of their gains before Fed Chairman Bernanke spoke. The financials and techs are giving up some of their gains. Once the Fed Chairman spoke the averages rebounded only to give up the gains once again. Through the morning the Nasdaq gave up its' gains as Google and a number of big cap techs fell into the red. The Dow is still higher by 80 points even as a number of the financials fell into the red. The other sectors are holding up much better. In the afternoon the Dow continued to perform well with the Nasdaq hovering just above the unchanged level. In the last hour the rally fizzled with the Nasdaq falling into the red. "The strength yesterday in equity markets is not sustainable, with Europe still in trouble and global growth still slowing," said Jim Russell, chief equity strategist for U.S. Bank Wealth Management. After a 140-point rise, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 46 points at 12,460, or 0.4%. Snapping a three-session winning run, the S&P 500 lost a fraction to end at 1,314. The Nasdaq Composite shed 13 points to 2,831.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.