Day Traders Diary

4/18/19

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 110 points closing at 26,559, the S&P 500 gained 0.2% to end the day at 2,905.03 while The Nasdaq Composite closed just above the flat line at 7,998.06. The earnings season is off to a good start with more than 78% of the S&P 500 companies topping analyst expectations so far. Better-than-expected retail sales data lifted sentiment to start the day with better than expected earnings from Honeywell, Travelers, Las Vegas Sands, American Express and Union Pacific.

Another boost to Investors sentiment came from the successful IPOs from Pinterest (PINS) and Zoom Video Communications (ZM). Zoom skyrocketing 70% while Pinterest shot up 28%.

However, Wall Street posted a muted weekly performance amid a sharp decline in the health-care sector. The Dow and Nasdaq rose 0.6% and 0.2% for the week, respectively, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.1%. The health-care sector fell more than 4% this week as investors worry over proposals pushed by Democratic lawmakers.

U.S. markets will be closed on Friday due to Good Friday.