Day Traders Diary
6/18/09
U.S. stocks twisted in mixed action at Thursday's start, with financial shares gaining and energy shares sliding along with the price of crude. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined fractionally to 8,496. The S&P 500 Index opened virtually flat at 911, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 7 points to 1,800. After the open, averages pushed higher thanks to the financials. Discover is up 6% on better than expected earnings. Lincoln National is up 7% on an upgrade. Metlife and Prudential are higher by 4% on upgrades. GE is one of the fewer financial related stocks trading lower. The retailers are performing well. J.M. Smuckers is up 8% after easily beating estimates. Pier One is up 6% on better than expected earnings. Nike is up 4% on an upgrade. Carnival and Winnebago are higher following earnings. Both have seen business decline due to the Swine Flu and higher oil prices. FedEx is rebounding after getting hit yesterday. Stifel is making positive comments on the firm. The techs are quiet. Apple is higher on an upgrade. Research in Motion, Palm, Google, and Microsoft were all upgraded, but all four are unchanged or lower. Through the morning, the Dow remained strong up over 50 points. The Nasdaq is quiet down 5 points. In the afternoon, more of the same. The financials and insurance stocks are strong. Everything else is quiet. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 58 points at 8,555. The S&P 500 Index rose 7 points to 918, while the Nasdaq Composite fell fractionally to 1,807.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.