Day Traders Diary

8/6/18

Stocks drifted higher on Monday, underpinned by a halfhearted effort from the bulls, who looked a little tired following last week's advance -- the fifth straight weekly advance for the S&P 500. All three major averages finished in the green, with the S&P 500 adding 0.4%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbing 0.6%, and the Dow ticking up 0.2%.

9 of 11 sectors advanced, with the lightly-weighted real estate (-0.2%) and telecom (-0.1%) spaces being the two laggards, but gains were modest overall. The consumer discretionary (+0.7%) and information technology (+0.6%) groups finished atop the sector standings, but no other space added more than 0.4%.

In individual stocks, T-Mobile US (TMUS 66.30, +4.75) and Sprint (S 6.18, +0.56) spiked 7.7% and 10.0%, respectively, after the NY Post reported that U.S. antitrust officials, who are currently reviewing T-Mobile's plan to buy Sprint for $26 billion, believe that three national 5G wireless providers are needed to ensure robust competition.

Meanwhile, on the earnings front, Tyson Foods (TSN 59.64, +1.89) rallied 3.3% after reporting better-than-expected earnings, but Newell Brands (NWL 22.76, -3.81) -- which owns brands like Rubbermaid, Coleman, and Sharpie -- tumbled 14.3% after reporting a 12.8% year-over-year drop in revenues.

Several FAANG names outperformed on Monday, including Facebook (FB 185.69, +7.91), Amazon (AMZN 1847.75, +24.46), and Netflix (NFLX 350.92, +7.83), which added 1.3%-4.5% apiece. Facebook was particularly strong, but still remains about 14.6% below the record high it hit on July 25 ahead of its disappointing Q2 earnings release.

Looking at other markets, U.S. Treasuries moved mostly higher, pushing the yield on the benchmark 10-yr note down two basis points to 2.94%. Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar Index climbed 0.2% to 95.19, a 13-month high, and West Texas Intermediate crude futures advanced 0.8% to $69.03 per barrel.

On the data front, investors did not receive any reports on Monday. However, looking ahead to Tuesday, the June Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey will be released at 10:00 AM ET, and the June Consumer Credit report will cross the wires at 3:00 PM ET.

• Nasdaq Composite +13.9% YTD
• Russell 2000 +9.7% YTD
• S&P 500 +6.6% YTD
• Dow Jones Industrial Average +3.2% YTD

• • • Headlines provided by Briefing.com