Day Traders Diary

7/6/12

U.S. stocks opened lower on Friday as jobs data disappointed investors and reaffirmed concerns that the economy is losing momentum. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 110 points to 12,786. The S&P 500 index declined 11 points to 1,356.6 while the Nasdaq Composite declined 20 points to 2,955. The losses came after the Labor Department reported that only 80,000 jobs were created in June while the jobless rate remained at 8.2%. Limited news this morning other than the economic numbers. The energy, materials, and industrials taking it on the chin once again. Caterpillar is down 3% on a downgrade. Alcoa is lower ahead of earnings next week as one analyst cut their earnings estimates. The techs are succumbing to profit-taking. Seagate and Juniper Networks are down over 2% on downgrades. Oracle was upgraded, but the stock is lower by 2%. Even Apple, Google, and IBM are lower. The only sector trying to hold up is retail. Home Depot, Disney, and McDonalds are three of the few components in the Dow to open in the green. TJX is higher on an upgrade. Weight Watchers is lower by 5% on a downgrade. After the first hour the averages pushed lower with the Dow dropping 150 points and the Nasdaq declining 47 points. Nothing looks particularly good. Through the morning the averages pushed lower with the Dow dropping 180 points and the Nasdaq declining 50 points or 1.5%. Deutsche Bank is down 5% as they are getting dragged into the Libor scandal. Volume remains light. In the afternoon the averages slowly recovered. Utilities, consumer staples, telecom, and consumer discretionary are the best performers. In the last hour the averages kept slowly improving getting back to where we started the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 124 points, or 1%, to close at 12,772. The index finished off the session's low of 12,702 and ended down 0.8% for the week. The S&P 500 shed 13 points to 1,354, losing 0.6% for the week. The Nasdaq Composite shed 39 points, or 1.3%, to 2,937, ending the week 0.1% higher.

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