Day Traders Diary

10/19/09

U.S. stocks opened mildly higher on Monday ahead of quarterly results from technology companies Apple and Texas Instruments. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 16 points to 10,012. The S&P 500 Index gained 2 points to 1,090, and the technology-laden Nasdaq Composite advanced 5 points to 2,162. The markets look to be taking a breather this morning. The banks are quiet. The lackluster earnings from Bank of America and Citigroup last week slowly investor enthusiasm. BB&T beat earnings by a penny this morning, however, the stock is lower by 5%. Blackrock, American Express, and Capital One are all higher on upgrades. The techs are quiet ahead of Apple's numbers tonight. Amazon was upgraded, but the stock is lower. In the retail space, Hasbro is lower by 4% following earnings. Dicks and Coach are higher thanks to upgrades. After the first hour the averages started to push higher. The Dow rose 40 points. The Nasdaq rose just 3 points. A number of commodity stocks are performing well. Potash is jumping 4%, lifting the sector, after an analyst indicated BHP should buy the firm for a 30% premium. Freeport McMoRan continues to shoot higher. But oil company Weatherford is down 5% on disappointing earnings. Through the morning the averages pushed higher led by commodities. Financials are going no where. In the afternoon, the Dow rose 100 points to new highs for the year. The S&P 500 touched 1100 for the first time this year. The Nasdaq rose to new highs for the year as well. Resilient market. Through the afternoon and into the last hour the averages remained near the highs of the day. U.S. stock indexes on Monday finished at new 2009 highs, with energy shares among those leading a rally as crude ended near $80 a barrel. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 96 points, or 1%, at 10,092. The S&P 500 Index rose 10 points to 1,097, while the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 19 points to 2,176.

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