Day Traders Diary
10/20/09
U.S. stocks started Tuesday mildly lower after the government reported housing starts that came in under expectations. Strong earnings from a number of techs did little to lift investor's enthusiasm. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 10 points to 10,081. The S&P 500 declined a point to 1,096 while the Nasdaq Composite shed a point to 2,175. Apple is the diamond of the day so far thanks to blow out earnings. The stock is up 5% to $200 a share back at all time highs. Texas Instruments and Lexmark are also higher following earnings. The financials are modestly higher this morning. Blackrock is up 3% to new highs due to strong earnings. M&T Bank, Bank of NY Mellon, and Jefferies are higher as well following earnings. Western Union, State Street, and Regions Financial are lower after earnings. The earnings keep flooding in. Dow components Pfizer and Caterpillar are up 2% or more following earnings. Other Dow components DuPont, United Tech, and Coke are lower following earnings. Other companies trading lower following earnings include Lockheed Martin, Forest Labs, Sherwin Williams, Biogen, and Coach. Companies trading higher on earnings include Unitedhealth Group, MGM Mirage, UAL, Supervalu, Peabody Energy, and Illinois Tool Works. After the first hour the averages remained where they started. The markets seem to be digesting all the earnings reports. Through the morning the Dow pushed lower, briefly dropping 100 points. The Nasdaq declined 20 points. The averages recovered a little in the last hour, but remained in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 50 points at 10,041. The S&P 500 Index lost 6 points to 1,091.06. The Nasdaq Composite shed 12 points to end at 2,163.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.