Day Traders Diary

10/10/19

The major averages finished on a high note ahead of a meeting between President Trump and China's Vice Premier, Liu He. The Dow Jones rose 150 points to close at 26,496. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both rose 0.6%.

The session began on flat note, which was a noteworthy feat considering U.S. futures dropped over 1.0% last night on a negative-sounding report from China. That report indicated that no progress was made among deputy officials in Washington and that officials may leave talks early. The latter was edited later to reflect the planned two-day stay.

A tweet from President Trump in which he said he will meet with the Vice Premier at the White House on Friday quickly sent stocks higher and U.S. Treasuries even lower. Ten of the 11 S&P 500 sectors finished in positive territory, with the energy (+1.3%) and financial (+1.0%) sectors advancing the most. The utilities sector (-0.1%) was the lone holdout amid the higher Treasury yields.

The 2-yr yield (1.53%) and the 10-yr yield (1.66%), which both rose seven basis points, initially started to sell off after yr/yr changes in consumer prices reflected a firming of consumer inflation. The U.S. Dollar Index fell 0.4% to 98.69. WTI crude rose 1.8% (+$0.94) to $53.57/bbl.