Day Traders Diary
2/5/09
U.S. stocks tumble out of the start thanks to a plethora of bad news starting with a jump in jobless claims, bad January retailers sales, and a warning from Cisco Systems. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 43 points to 7,913. The S&P 500 shed 5 points to 826 while the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite dropped 14 points to 1,500. The selling accelerated particular among the financials. Bank of America dropped over 15% and Wells Fargo is down 12%. Both are at new lows. GE is down 5% to new lows. Deutsche Bank is down 5% after confirming a fourth quarter loss. The few financial related companies performing well are Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Visa, Mastercard, and the insurance stocks. Goldman and Morgan are at 3 month highs. Outside the financials, things are a little better. The retailers reported dismal numbers, but the stocks are seeing a lift. Cisco is modestly lower, but a number of techs are higher like Google, Texas Instruments, Apple, and Research in Motion. BMC Software, Atmel, and Akamai are higher following earnings. Cardinal Health is jumping 12% on better than expected earnings. After the first hour, the Dow was off the lows, but still down 90 points. The Nasdaq's decline was only 5 points. After the first hour the averages started to improve. The Nasdaq moved into the green. The Dow even moved into the green. Only the big banks remain weak. Through the morning the rally accelerated on rumors of new developments surrounding the stimulus package and a way to help the banks by possibly suspending or easing the mark to mark accounting standard. During the lunch hour, the Dow jumped over 100 points. The Nasdaq improved by 25 points. Most sectors are performing well except for the big banks. Through the afternoon the averages remained strong. Tomorrow we'll get the monthly unemployment jobless claims for January. That won't be good. In the last hour, the averages remained strong. Bank of America moved into the green on insider buying. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 106 points, or 1.3%, at 8,063. The S&P 500 climbed 13 points to 845 while the Nasdaq Composite rose 31 points, or 2.1%, to end at 1,546.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.