Day Traders Diary

2/21/14

The major averages finished the mixed week on a lower note. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 both shed 0.2% while the Nasdaq slipped 0.1%. For the week, the Dow and S&P 500 posted respective losses of 0.3% and 0.1% while the Nasdaq added 0.5%.

In some ways, today's session resembled Wednesday's affair, during which the S&P 500 made an unsuccessful run at its 2013 closing high of 1848.36. However, today's rejection unfolded over the course of the afternoon while Wednesday's pushback from the record high occurred in one sharp move.

The opening rally was supported by the largest S&P 500 sector, technology, which outperformed during the first 90 minutes of action. However, the morning leader became an afternoon laggard after the S&P 500's failed run at new record highs. The tech sector lost 0.3% while top components like Apple (AAPL 525.25, -5.90), Facebook (FB 68.59, -1.04), and Intel (INTC 24.48, -0.26) lost between 1.1% and 1.5%. Another tech component, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 29.79, -0.40), lost 1.3% despite beating on earnings and revenue.

Interestingly, once the technology sector slipped behind the S&P 500, the second largest sectorfinancialswas there to pick up the slack. The group struggled to keep pace with the S&P 500 since Wednesday and began today among the laggards, but was able to climb ahead of the broader market during the late-morning retreat. Despite today's slight gain of 0.03%, the sector ended the week behind the remaining nine groups with a loss of 0.9%.

Elsewhere, the discretionary sector (+0.2%) finished in the lead thanks to all-around strength. Retailers held up well even after Nordstrom (JWN 59.24, -0.20) issued disappointing guidance.

On the downside, the energy sector (-0.7%) spent the entire session in the red while crude oil slid 0.6% to $102.18/bbl. Elsewhere among commodities, gold remained strong, climbing 0.5% to $1317.30/ozt.

Trading volume was above average, which resulted from options expiration. Nearly 800 million shares changed hands at the NYSE versus a 200-day average of 718 million.

Treasuries posted modest gains with the benchmark 10-yr yield ending lower by two basis points at 2.73%.

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