Day Traders Diary

6/18/19

The major averages surged, closing in on all-time highs as President Donald Trump said he will meet with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, at the upcoming G-20 summit, boosting hopes for a U.S.-China trade deal. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 353 points to 26,465. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq climbed 1%. The Dow and S&P 500 are now within 2% of all-time highs.

Stocks with exposure to China all performed well today. Boeing and Caterpillar shares, two trade bellwethers, rose 5.4% and 2.4%, respectively. Deere gained 3%. Semiconductor stocks jumped today with Nvidia up 5% and and Texas Instruments up 4%. The VanEck Vector Semiconductor ETF (SMH) surged more than 4%.

The Federal Reserve is expected to meet tomorrow, but expectations of a rate cut are low. However, investors are anticipating sentiment toward a possible rate cut in July.

Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, suggested today of possible further stimulus for his multi-country economy. Draghi's comments sent the euro sliding against the dollar, but boosted their markets with the Stoxx 600 index climbing more than 1.5%, along with the German Dax and the French CAC 40.