Day Traders Diary

1/23/09

The markets open lower once again as the economic and corporate outlook is not getting any better. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 172 points, or 2.1%, to 7,950. GE is down 3% on in-line guidance and a cautious outlook. The S&P 500 declined 16 points, or 2%, to 810, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 22 points to 1,442. The financials are lower once again. Capital One is down 14% on dismal earnings. M&T Bank is lower on a downgrade. BB&T is lower on concerns of a dividend cut. Insider buying at U.S. Bancorp isn't helping this morning. In the tech sector, Google is modestly higher for now after beating estimates. MEMC Electronics is higher after beating estimates. AMD, Sony, and Xerox are lower after reporting quarterly losses. Xerox is down 16%. Harley Davidson is down 16% after missing estimates by a wide margin. The commodities are trying to rally. Schlumberger is up 6% even though they missed estimates by 2 cents. After the first hour the averages had bounced off the lows, but the Dow was still down 120 points. The Nasdaq was down just 2 points. Aflac is jumping 19% after indicating their capital position is strong. A large cap merger is circling the rumor mill. Wyeth is jumping 8% on rumors Pfizer may make an offer for the drug company. Through the morning the averages sold off to new lows only to rebound once again. One stock not rebounding is GE down 6%. Entering the lunch hour more and more stocks moved into the green. The Nasdaq moved into the green led by Google. The Dow remained down 100 points. In the afternoon, the techs and the Nasdaq remain in the green. The Dow is trying to get back to the unchanged level, but is having difficulty, particularly with GE down 11% at the lows of the day. In the last hour more of the same. The Nasdaq remained in the green. The Dow kept trying to get back to the unchanged level. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 45 points to 8,077, leaving the blue chip average down 2.5% on the week. The S&P 500 gained 4 points to 831, translating into a 2.1% decline on the week. The technology-laden Nasdaq Composite gained 11 points to 1,477, off 3.4% on the week.

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