Day Traders Diary

5/17/19

Stocks sold off into the close on news the trade talks between China and the U.S. have stalled. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day down 98 points at 25,764, erasing a 50 points gain. It was the fourth straight weekly decline for the Dow, the first time in three years. The S&P 500 fell 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped a percent. For the week, the Dow lost 0.7% while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell 0.8% and 1.3% respectively. Regarding sectors, the cyclical S&P 500 industrials fell a percent along with energy. The semiconductor sector dropped nearly 2% today and nearly 6% for the week.

Investors are now coming to grips with the fact that the trade tariff issues may take a while. Stocks getting caught in the crosshairs of the trade tariffs include Deere down 7% today following earnings. Anything China realted fell as well. Baidu dropped 16.5% today following earnings.