Day Traders Diary

3/6/20

The major averages finished in the red, but up for the week thanks to a nice recovery into the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 256 points, or 0.9%, to 25,864, after plunging as much as 894 points during the session. The S&P 500 dropped 1.7%, or 51 points to 2,972 while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.8%, or 162 points to 8,575.

All three major averages eked out small weekly gains after a wild week that saw the Dow swing 1,000 points three times and moves of at least 800 points each day. The Dow was up 1.7% on the week, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq gained 0.6% and 0.1%, respectively. The benchmarks are still in correction territory, however, down at least 10% from their recent peaks.

Airline stocks rebounded after a tough week. Alaska Air rose 4%, Delta was up 2% while JetBlue and United Airlines closed modestly higher. Alaska Air did warn that its guidance for 2020 should no longer be relied upon due to coronavirus-related uncertainty.

Shares of cruise operators started the day in positive territory but retreated as the day went on. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings fell 5%, stopping just above its record low that it notched when the company went public in early 2013.

In company-specific news, Costco fell a percent after reporting better than expected second quarter results. AMD rose a percent after reaffirming its guidance for the full year. The chipmaker did caution that the first quarter results are likely to be on the low end of its guidance.

Bank stocks suffered from the drop in Treasury yields while energy companies struggled as oil fell $4.57, or 10.0%, to $41.32/bbl. The energy component ended the day at its lowest level since mid-2016 after OPEC+ could not agree to a sharp production cut despite yesterday's reports to the contrary. Russia's Energy Minister, Alexander Novak, said that OPEC+ countries are free to pump at will starting from April 1.

Friday's declines came as the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield tumbled below 0.7% for the first time ever. Investors continued to seek safer assets amid fears that the coronavirus will disrupt global supply chains and tip the economy into a recession. Another haven asset, gold, had its best week since 2016.