Day Traders Diary

7/2/12

July 2, 2012
Stocks on Wall Street opened slightly lower on Monday after the previous session's rally as investors awaited U.S. data on the manufacturing sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 19 points to 12,862 while and the S&P 500 index slipped a point to 1,360. The Nasdaq Composite declined 3 points to 2,931. A great end to the second quarter, but July may be a little tougher. The three beaten down sectors for 2012, materials, energy, and industrials, performed well last week, but are trading back down this morning. DuPont is lower by 2% on a downgrade. The transports are also under pressure this morning. The defensive sectors are perking up with utilities in the lead. Consumer staples and healthcare are also modestly higher. Amylin Pharma is jumping 9% after agreeing to be bought out by Bristol Myers. Quest Diagnostic and Lab Corp are higher thanks to upgrades at Goldman Sachs. Both companies look to benefit from the Supreme Court decision last week. Speaking of Goldman Sachs, the financials are modestly higher this morning. In the tech space Apple keeps pushing higher as the rest of the big cap techs are modestly lower. Micron is jumping 6% after agreeing to buy a defunct Asian chip company. Brightpoint is jumping 63% after agreeing to be bought out by Ingram Micro. Dell is buying Quest Software, but the stock had run up in anticipation. Analog Devices and Cree are modestly lower on downgrades. In the retail space plenty of upgrades. Costco, Tiffany, and American Eagle are higher on upgrades. Anheuser Busch InBev had a nice write up in Barrons and an upgrade this morning, but the stock is lower. Best Buy is jumping 9% on takeover rumors. Through the first hour the Dow pushed lower falling 50 points on a weak manufacturing number. The Nasdaq held the unchanged level thanks to a one percent rally in Apple. Through the morning the averages remained quiet and weak. In the afternoon the averages slowly improved with the Nasdaq returning to the green as many of the big cap techs gave up their losses. The Dow slowly improved thanks to the banks and the defensive sectors like utilities, consumer staples, and healthcare. In the last hour the averages slowly grinded higher with the Dow fighting to get back to the unchanged level. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 8 points to 12,871, while the S&P 500 rose 3 points to 1,365. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 16 points to 2,951.

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