Day Traders Diary

8/17/12

US stock futures are completely flat today. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are down 2 points to 13,223 and those on the S&P 500 index dropped 0.70 points to 1,412. Nasdaq-100 futures were bucking the trend up 6 points to 2,769. US consumer sentiment will be released at 9:55am, so the market might begin to move after the number is released. The consensus for consumer sentiment is 72. European markets are seeing mixed results today, with the FTSE-100 closed up 5.82 points or 0.10%. The CAC 40 down 2.31 points which is 0.07% and the DAX is trading higher up 18.64 points or 0.27%. Asian Markets looked healthy during their trading session as the Hang Seng rallied 153.12 points or 0.77%. The Nikkei 225 was also up exactly 0.77% or 69.74 points. In corporate news, Facebook Inc. (FB) co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg saw his fortune fall $600 million to $10.2 billion after shares of the company dropped 6% yesterday. To make matters worse Zuckerberg has lost nearly 50% of his total net worth since Facebook's IPO. Today, Facebook looks to be trading up over $20.00 premarket. J.M. Smucker Co. (SJM) released that its first-quarter profit dipped 1% to $111 million, or $1 a share, from $111.5 million, or 98 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted profit increased to $1.17 a share from $1.12 a share. Sales increased by 15% to $1.37 billion, after the company purchased Sara Lee Corp.'s North American food service coffee and hot beverage business. Other companies that will be releasing earnings today include; Acer Inc., Cabo Drilling Co., Excelsior Medical Co Ltd., and Footlocker Inc. Some premarket gainers include, Marathon Petroleum Corp up 3.60%, Cabot Oil and Gas Corp (not to be confused with Cabo Drilling) up 2.77%, and J.M. Smucker Co. up 2.71%. Premarket losers include Humana Inc. down 2.84%, Best Buy Co Inc. down 1.47% and Alpha Natural Resources down 1.21%.

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