Day Traders Diary
10/13/09
U.S. stocks on Tuesday struggled in mixed terrain shortly after the opening bell, with investors braced for more earnings after mixed results from health-care giant Johnson & Johnson. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22 points to 9,863. J&J is down 3% even though they beat results due to a lower tax rate. The S&P 500 Index fell 2 points to 1,074. The Nasdaq Composite rose 5 points to 2,144. The strength so far is with the techs. Cisco is higher after agreeing to buy Starnet Networks for $2.9 billion. Starnet is up 17% on the news. Plenty of upgrades within the techs including AMD, EMC, Apple, Yahoo, Akamai Tech, and Google. All are modestly higher. The financials are quiet after a nice run up. Citigroup is higher on an upgrade. Goldman Sachs is lower by 2% on a downgrade. A number of upgrades within the retail sector. Pacific Sunwear is up 9% on an upgrade. Decker Outdoors and Callaway are higher on upgrades. Pier One is up 15% on better than expected September sales numbers. Even with this good news, the averages remain near the unchanged level or in the red. Quiet day so far. Through the morning and into the afternoon, the averages remained in the red. The techs are performing well ahead of Intel's earnings tonight. Everything else is quiet. The healthcare sector continues to underperform due to mixed results at J&J this morning and the heated debate over the healthcare reform in Washington. In the last hour, not much changed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 14 points to end at 9,871. The S&P 500 Index declined 2 points to 1,073, while the technology-laden Nasdaq Composite stood at 2,139, up less than 1 point.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.