Day Traders Diary
3/30/09
U.S. stocks opened sharply lower Monday after the White House said bankruptcy was a possibility for General Motors and Chrysler. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 195 points, or 2.6%, to 7,582. Shares of GM is slumping 25%. The S&P 500 index lost 20 points, or 2.6%, to 794, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 35 points, or 2.3%, to 1,509. The government rejected the viability plans the automakers submitted in response to requests for government loans. The White House said a structured bankruptcy plan for the two automakers could give them their "best chance at success". All the automakers are lower. The financials are also under heavy selling pressure. Lincoln National is one of the weakest financials down 33% on a downgrade. Coincidently, the bank is also named after a Ford model car. UBS is down 8% on more job cuts and forecasts for more writedowns. BB&T is down 6% on a downgrade. Metlife was upgraded, but the stock is lower by 8%. Travelers is one of the few financials higher on an upgrade. Nothing looks good today. In the tech sector, IBM is down 2% on more job cuts. Juniper is down 6% after having their numbers cut. Intel was upgraded, but the stock is lower. The commodities are all lower. Two fertilizer stocks, Potash and Mosaic are lower thanks to downgrades. After the first hour, the averages pushed lower. The Dow dropped 270 points. The Nasdaq declined 50 points. Today is nothing like last Monday. Through the morning and into the afternoon, the averages remained weak near the lows of the day. No bounces yet. In the last hour, the best we can say is that we rebounded off the lows. The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 254 points, or 3.3%, to 7,522. The S&P 500 lost 28 points, or 3.5%, to trade at 787 while the Nasdaq Composite fell 43 points, or 2.8%, to 1,501.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.