Day Traders Diary

5/20/09

U.S. stocks open modestly higher on Wednesday as investors were cheered by Bank of America ability to raise funds. "The market is rewarding the financial sector again today for raising various capital," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 50 points to 8,525. The S&P 500 Index climbed 9 points to 917, while the Nasdaq Composite added 13 points to 1,747. Bank of America is up 8% after completing their stock offering. A majority of the financials are trading higher. The retailers are performing well. Target is up 4% after easily beat earnings estimates. Deere and Ann Taylor are also higher thanks to earnings. McDonalds, Home Depot, and Costco are higher thanks to upgrades. Hewlett Packard is lower by 3% due to a cautious outlook following earnings last night. Dell and IBM are down in sympathy, but the rest of the techs look good. Analog Devices is up 14% after easily beating estimates. Amazon and Nokia are higher thanks to upgrades. Google looks good this morning. After the first hour, the Dow rose 100 points. The Nasdaq rose 25 points. Only Hewlett Packard among the big caps is performing poorly this morning.

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