Day Traders Diary
7/31/12
U.S. stocks began mainly lower Tuesday after reports that the German Finance Ministry said it did not see any need to give the European Stability Mechanism a bank license. "The Germans want the big bazooka kept on the sidelines," Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak, emailed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 12 points to 13,060. The S&P 500 index lost a fraction to 1,385 while the Nasdaq Composite gained 8 points to 2,954. The markets are quiet, but plenty of stocks are moving today. In the tech space chipmaker Cirrus Logic is jumping 22% on earnings. Why is this company doing so well? They are a big supplier to Apple. Apple is jumping nearly 2% on these earnings recouping virtually all the losses from last weeks' earnings. Kulicke and Soffa is higher by 7% on earnings. On the flip side, Seagate is down 5% on disappointing earnings. Seagate's numbers are holding back Intel and AMD. In fact, outside Apple and Cirrus, the techs are quiet. In the industrial space, Cummins Engines is higher by 5% following earnings. The stock got hit in June after the company lowered estimates, but has since recouped a lot of the losses particularly following todays' gains. The rest of the industrials are lower. In the healthcare space, Humana is down 8% on disappointing earnings. This continues a trend of the HMOs trading off since the Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare. Pfizer and Aetna are modestly higher on earnings. In the energy space US Steel is jumping 4% on earnings. Valero Energy is higher by 5% on earnings. Archer Daniels is down 4% after missing estimates. In the retail space Goodyear and Hertz are higher on earnings while Texas Roadhouse and Coach are lower on earnings. Coach is down 8%. Through the first hour the better than expected manufacturing and consumer confidence numbers did little to boost the markets. Through the first hour the Dow remained in the red while the Nasdaq rose modestly thanks in large part to Apple. Through the morning and into the afternoon the averages remained quiet and in the red. The tech sector thanks to Apple and a select number of other techs are holding up, but that's about it. In the last hour the averages drifted lower on no news. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 64 points at 13,008, up 1% from the end of June. The S&P 500 index retreated 5 points to 1,379, up 1.3% for July. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 6 points to 2,939, up 0.2% for the month.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.