Day Traders Diary

2/14/20

Stocks were little changed on Friday, but notched a gain for the week, as Wall Street digested the latest batch of consumer data and earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 25 points, or about 0.1%, to close at 29,398. Earlier in the day, the Dow fell more than 100 points. The S&P 500 gained just 0.2% to close at 3,380, but eked out a record closing high. The Nasdaq Composite also advanced 0.2% to 9,731.18 and hit an all-time closing high. The major averages hit their session lows around midday. They later recovered after CNBC reported the White House is considering tax incentives for people in the U.S. to buy stocks.

Despite Friday's muted trading moves, stocks posted back-to-back weekly gains. The S&P 500 and Dow rose 1.6% and 1%, respectively, this week. The Nasdaq gained 2.2%. Those advances come even as investors grapple with a rising number of reported coronavirus cases.

China's National Health Commission on Friday reported an additional 121 coronavirus deaths nationwide, with 5,090 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus. The flu-like virus was found to have killed at least 1,380 people in mainland China after the health commission said it had removed 108 deaths from the total figure due to a double-count in Hubei province — the epicenter of the global coronavirus outbreak.

It is the second day in a row that the province's data changes have caused significant changes to a nationwide figure, fueling doubts many have about their accuracy.

This week, Amazon, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet all climbed more than 2%. Apple, meanwhile, ended the week 1.5% higher.

On the earnings front, NVIDIA closed up 7% while Expedia Group rose 11% following strong earnings.  Roku finished down 6% after rising as much as 8.7% following its results.

U.S. Treasuries, as previously stated, had a good session, driving yields lower across the curve. The 2-yr yield declined five basis points to 1.42%, and the 10-yr yield declined three basis points to 1.58%. The U.S. Dollar Index increased 0.1% to 99.12. WTI crude rose 1.0%, or $0.53, to $51.93/bbl.