Day Traders Diary
8/24/12
U.S. stocks open mildly lower Friday, with the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 positioned for their first weekly drop in seven, on worry about Europe's handling of its debt crisis. "It's been a bad week for markets. It's a very-little volume reaction to some nice weeks of a rally. Investors are nervous the market isn't as cheap as it was, and that something could go wrong here," said David Kelly, chief market strategist at J.P. Morgan Funds. The Dow industrials declined 15 points to 13,041. The S&P 500 retreated 2 points to 1,399. The Nasdaq Composite shed 10 points to 3,042. More disappointing earnings out of the tech space this morning. Today it's Autodesk down 22% after missing estimates. All the big cap techs are modestly lower this morning. Salesforce.com opened lower on earnings, but then battled back. Aruba Networks is jumping 17% on earnings. Most sectors are trading lower, but the healthcare space is bucking the trend. Eli Lilly is jumping 4% on positive clinical trials for their Alzheimer drug. Bristol Myers and Gilead Science are higher on upgrades. Merck was downgraded, but the stock is higher. Many of the drug stocks are trading just under their 52 week highs. Through the first hour the averages sold off only to rebound. Following the first hour the Nasdaq moved into the green followed by the Dow. The healthcare space is in the lead followed consumer staples, telecom, and consumer discretionary. The techs and financials are trying to battle back. Positive comments from our Fed Chairman and comments out of Europe sent the Euro higher and our averages higher as well. The Dow rallied 90 points while the Nasdaq rose 14 points. Now every sector looks pretty good except for the energy space. A number of material stocks are also under water. Entering the last hour the Dow pushed up triple digits and held on to the gains into the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 100 points at 13,157, leaving the blue chips 0.7% lower on the week. The S&P 500 index gained 9 points to 1,411, down 0.5% from the week-ago close. The Nasdaq Composite added 16 points to 3,069, off 0.2% for the week.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.