Day Traders Diary

8/20/19

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for the first time in four sessions on Tuesday, paring some of the strong gains from the previous three session as recession fears lingered. The Dow Jones finished down 173 points at 25,962. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite pulled back 0.7% and 0.6%, respectively. The major indexes fell to their session lows in the final minutes of the trading session as Treasury yields declined as well.

All 11 S&P 500 sectors finished in negative territory, with the financials down 1.4%, materials down 1.2%, and consumer staples down 1.2%. The consumer discretionary sector finished just below its flat line, supported by Home Depot.

Home Depot helped keep losses in check for the Dow Jones. Shares of the home improvement retailer rose 4.4% on better-than-expected earnings. However, Home Depot warned tariffs could hit consumer spending and cut its full-year revenue outlook. Department store company, Kohl's and TJX Companies finished in the red following earnings. Kohl's fell despite beating top and bottom-line estimates. TJX finished little changed despite missing revenue estimates and guiding third quarter below consensus.

Chip stocks, which are sensitive to trade news, contributed to Tuesday's decline. Micron Technology and Advanced Micro Devices dipped 1.7% and 2.4%, respectively. Netflix shares pulled back 3.4%.

Bank shares such as Citigroup, Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase all traded lower as Treasury yields pulled back. The benchmark 10-year yield fell about 5 basis points on Tuesday, or 0.05 percentage points, to 1.54%.