Day Traders Diary
4/21/09
U.S. stocks opened lower on Tuesday, extending the prior session's steep decline, amid worries about the health of banks and the quality of their earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 32 points to 7,809. The S&P 500 Index declined 3 points to 829, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 4 points to 1,604. The banks are again in focus as the earnings come flooding in, and the news is mixed. The financials reporting earnings including Zions Bancorp, Blackrock, M&T, Western Union, Northern Trust, Jefferies, Huntington Bancshares, Regions Financial, State Street, US Bancorp, Bank of New York, and KeyCorp. Key, Zions, Bank of New York, Regions, and Northern Trust are all down 13% or more. Blackrock, Western Union, Jefferies, and US Bancorp are all up 7% or more. After the open the techs rebounded. Texas Instruments is lifting the chip sector on better than expected results. IBM is modestly higher after beat estimates last night by 4 cents. Broadcom is down 9% after reporting a loss and announcing a $764 million offer for Emulex. Emulex is jumping 42%. In the healthcare sector Schering Plough, Merck, Unitedhealth Group, and Forest Labs are all lower on earnings. Healthway is jumping 9% after beating estimates by 5 cents. Other companies reporting earnings include the New York Times, AK Steel, Coke, Delta Airlines, Coach, BJ Services, DuPont, and Lockheed Martin. Coach is jumping 15% after intiaiting a dividend. Two Dow components are heading in different directions. Caterpillar is down 5% after reporting a loss. United Tech is jumping 5% on in line results. After the first hour, the Dow remained lower, but only by 40 points. The Nasdaq was in the green by 4 points. After the first hour, the averages improve with the major averages moving into the green. Even the financials are rallying thanks in part to comments from the Secretary of the Treasury to Congress easing concerns about nationalization, once again. In the afternoon, more of the same. This is a nice turn around, particularly within the financials. In the last hour, the averages kept pushing higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 127 points, or 1.6%, at 7,969. The S&P 500 added 17 points, or 2.1%, at 850, while the Nasdaq Composite added 35 points, or 2.2%, at 1,643.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.