Day Traders Diary
9/30/09
U.S. stocks on Wednesday opened modestly higher to cap off one of the best third quarters in years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 4 points to 9,747. The S&P 500 Index added a point to 1,061 while the Nasdaq Composite rose 5 points to 2,129. The financing and leasing company, CIT Group is down 40% on news the company is trying to stave off a bankruptcy. The rest of the financials are modestly higher. Goldman Sachs is modestly higher on an upgrade. Ameriprise is jumping 12% on news the company will acquire the Columbia Asset Management division of Bank of America for a billion dollars. Bank of America is also modestly higher. UBS is modestly lower after announcing a third quarter credit loss. On the earnings front, Nike is jumping 7% after beating estimates. Aeropostale is up 2% on an upgrade. Darden Restaurant and Sealy, however, are lower following earnings. Target is down 2% on a downgrade and upgrade. In the tech sector, Jabil Circuit is up 8% after beating estimates. Micron is lower following earnings. Intel and Ebay were upgraded, however, both are lower. After the first 15 minutes the averages dropped off a cliff following disappointing manufacturing data out of Chicago. After the first half an hour, the Dow was down 120 points. The Nasdaq declined 27 points. Profit-taking into the end of the quarter. Through the morning the averages slowly recovered off the lows of the day. A select number of techs and financials are modestly in the green. By the end of the lunch hour, the averages were in the green. Resilient market. The healthcare sector remains weak today and over the last several months due to pending legislation in Washington. Wellpoint and Humana are down over 2% on downgrades today. Entering the last hour the averages started to sell off only to recover into the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 29 points at 9,776, leaving the blue chips up 2.3% forthe month and ahead 15% for the quarter. The S&P 500 Index fell 3 points to end at 1,057, leaving it up 3.6% for September and up 15% ahead for the month. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost a point to finish at 2,122, giving it a 5.6% monthly rise and 15.7% jump for the just-ended three-month period.
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