Day Traders Diary

8/7/17

 Equities opened the week on a positive note as the S&P 500 (+0.2%) ticked up to a new record high for the first time since July 26. The Dow (+0.1%) also closed at a new record high, marking its ninth-consecutive record close, but the Nasdaq was the top performer, outpacing its peers with a gain of 0.5%. A small late-afternoon rally left the major averages at their best marks of the day.

The benchmark S&P 500 index drifted within a five-point range on Monday as a lack of notable headlines resulted in a lack of conviction for investors. More sectors finished in the green than the red--seven to four--but sector movement was modest for the most part with eight of the eleven groups settling within 0.2% of their unchanged marks.

Three groups--technology, consumer staples, and energy--showed notable movement with the technology (+0.6%) and consumer staples (+0.7%) groups finishing at the top of the leaderboard and the energy space (-0.9%) settling at the bottom.

Tyson Foods (TSN 66.90, +3.60) was the top-performing component in the consumer staples sector, jumping 5.7% after beating both top and bottom line estimates and issuing upbeat revenue guidance. As for the tech sector, which is the heaviest sector in terms of weight, chipmakers were among the strongest components, sending the PHLX Semiconductor Index higher by 1.7%.

Mega-cap technology names like Apple (AAPL 158.59, +2.20) and Facebook (FB 171.98, +2.36) also played a vital role in the tech sector's positive performance. The two companies added 1.4% apiece.

As for the energy sector, nearly all of its components finished in the red as crude oil held a sizable loss for much of Monday's session. The commodity hit its session low ($48.55/bbl, -2.1%) in the late morning, but was able to retrace nearly all of the decline by the close. WTI crude settled lower by 0.1% at a price of $49.37/bbl.

On a related note, OPEC and non-OPEC nations kicked off a two-day compliance meeting in Abu Dhabi on Monday, looking to strengthen their efforts to tighten the world's oil supply. The current OPEC-led supply cut agreement has been in effect since the beginning of the year, but increased production from the United States has largely mitigated the effort.

It's also worth pointing out that Dow component United Technologies (UTX 118.52, -2.97) dropped 2.4% following news that the company has made an approach to acquire Rockwell Collins (COL 127.07, +8.07). Conversely, COL shares jumped 6.8% following the news.

Treasuries settled Monday's session with modest gains, leaving the benchmark 10-yr yield one basis point lower at 2.26%. Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index (93.30, -0.07%) finished lower by 0.1%.

Reviewing Monday's economic data, which was limited to the June Consumer Credit Report:

The Consumer Credit report for June showed an increase of $12.4 billion while the Briefing.com consensus expected growth of $16.2 billion. The prior month's credit growth was revised to $18.3 billion from $18.4 billion.

On Tuesday, investors will once again receive just one piece of economic data--June JOLTS. The report will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

Nasdaq Composite +18.6% YTD

Dow Jones Industrial Average +11.9% YTD

S&P 500 +10.8% YTD

Russell 2000 +4.2% YTD