Day Traders Diary

9/13/19

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 37 points, posting its first eight-day winning streak in more than a year, amid improving sentiment around U.S.-China trade relations. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite finished modestly lower. The Dow finished Friday's session 0.7% below an intraday record high of 27,398.68. The S&P 500 was also within striking distance of its all-time high of 3,027.98.

Earlier in the week, Trump decided to delay increasing tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods from Oct. 1 to Oct. 15 as a "gesture of good will" to China. Yesterday, President Trump said he expects Beijing would purchase "large amounts" of agricultural products. Trump also said he would consider an interim trade deal with China.

The upbeat sentiment around the trade war pushed the major indexes to their third straight weekly gain. The Dow rose 1.6% week to date while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both rose about 0.9%.

Trade bellwethers Caterpillar and Boeing rose 1.5% and 1.1%, respectively. Those gains were slightly offset by a 1.9% drop in Apple which carried the major averages for most of the week. The tech giant's stock fell after an analyst at Goldman Sachs cut his price target but finished higher on the week.

Trade-sensitive groups like the S&P 500 materials rose 1.1% and industrials up 0.5% sectors. The price of oil keeps dropping, but energy rose 0.8% and financials rose 0.8%. Financial stocks benefited from another rise in yields, and curve-steepening, as Treasuries sold off following an uptick in retail sales and a rebound in consumer sentiment.

The 2-yr yield increased seven basis points to 1.79%, and the 10-yr yield increased 11 basis points to 1.90%. The U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.1% to 98.20. WTI crude lost 0.5%, or $0.25, to $54.88/bbl.