Day Traders Diary

10/11/19

The major averages performed well after President Donald Trump said China and the U.S. reached the first phase of a substantial trade deal that delays tariff hikes that were set to kick in next week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 319 points, or 1.2% 26,816. The S&P 500 rose 1.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.3%. The gains helped the Dow and S&P 500 snap a three-week losing streak. The Dow and S&P 500 gained 0.9% and 0.6%, respectively, for the week. The Nasdaq ended the week up 0.9%.

Trump told reporters at the Oval Office that phase one of the trade deal will be written over the next three weeks. The major indexes hit their session highs on this comment, with the Dow rising more than 500 points before pulling back into the close.

Part of phase one will include China purchasing between $40 billion and $50 billion in U.S. agricultural products. Trump also said the deal also includes agreements on foreign-exchange issues with China. In exchange, the U.S. agreed to hold off on tariff hikes that were set to take effect Tuesday.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said both sides struck an "almost complete agreement" on currency and financial services issues. Phase two of the deal will "start almost immediately" after the first one is signed, Trump said.

Big Tech shares such as Facebook, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet all gained at least 1%. Bank stocks also gained steam, as Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase rose more than 2% each. Apple jumped 3% hitting new all-time highs. Chipmakers rose broadly. Micron Technology gained more than 5%, while Xilinx jumped 4.8%.

On the earnings front, Fastenal rose 17% to a new record high after beating third quarter expectations. German software company SAP rose 9.5% to I's highest level since late July after the company reported better than expected preliminary results and named a new CEO. Not all sectors performed well. Utilities, real estate and consumer staples underperformed as Treasury yields rose amid the improvement in risk tolerance.

Treasuries ended in the red, sending the 10-yr yield higher by nine basis points to 1.75%.