Day Traders Diary

11/12/13

The S&P 500 shed 0.2% after spending the entire session in negative territory. The index sold off steadily through the first four hours of action, but managed to regain most of its losses by the close. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq ended flat as the relative strength of technology (+0.3%) underpinned the index.

The tech sector was one of just two advancers among cyclical groups as top components like Cisco Systems (CSCO 23.73, +0.29), Oracle (ORCL 34.70, +0.33), and Qualcomm (QCOM 68.51, +0.89) provided leadership. Chipmakers also rallied with the PHLX Semiconductor Index adding 0.6%.

Elsewhere, the industrial sector settled just above its flat line with transports contributing to the outperformance. The Dow Jones Transportation Average rose 0.7% as airlines registered broad gains after AMR (AAMRQ 12.00, +2.48) and US Airways (LCC 23.52, +0.25) confirmed their settlement with the Department of Justice. JetBlue (JBLU 8.16, +0.47) was the leader among transports, climbing 6.1%.

Although the S&P climbed off its lows during the final 90 minutes, the index was unable to return into positive territory as energy (-0.9%) and financials (-0.9%) weighed.

The energy sector was pressured by persistent weakness in crude oil. The energy component settled lower by 2.1% at $93.12 per barrel.

Meanwhile, other commodities did not fare much better as copper (-1.2% at $3.22/lb), gold (-1.1% at $1267.50/ozt), and silver (-2.6% at $20.72/ozt) ended on their lows.

Countercyclical sectors settled on a mixed note as consumer staples (+0.1%), health care (-0.1%), and telecom services (+0.3%) outperformed while utilities (-0.9%) lagged throughout the session.

Treasuries ended modestly lower with the 10-yr yield up two basis points at 2.78%.

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be reported at 7:00 ET while October export prices ex-agriculture and import prices ex-oil will be reported at 8:30 ET. The day's data will be topped off with the 14:00 ET release of the October Treasury budget.

Nasdaq +29.8% YTD
Russell 2000 +29.7% YTD
S&P 500 +23.9% YTD
DJIA +20.2% YTD

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