Day Traders Diary

12/30/09

U.S stocks turned slightly higher early Wednesday after a report that pointed to a recovery in manufacturing in the Chicago region. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2 points to 10,545. The S&P 500 index gained 10 cents to 1,126, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 3 points to 2,291. The Chicago purchasing managers index rose to 60.0% in December, a 16-month high, and higher than economists expected. The index stood at 56.1% in November. After the open the techs started to improve. Apple, Research in Motion, and Google moved into positive territory. Apple received a couple of upgrades. The chips are improving. Chip and chip equipment stocks Nvidia and Marvell Tech are both up over 2% on upgrades. Seagate is up a percent on an upgrade. In the retail space Mattel and Hasbro are higher on upgrades. Sears, American Eagle, Best Buy, and Walmart are all higher. After the first hour the averages remain near the unchanged level.
In the afternoon the averages dipped into the red. A few stocks remain in the green including Google, Goldman Sachs, Apple, and the chip stocks look good. A number of commodities are perking up. In the last hour the averages nudged into the green. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 3 points at 10,548, led by a 1.7% gain in shares of Alcoa. The S&P 500 index inched up 23 cents to 1,126. The Nasdaq Composite rose 2 points to 2,291.

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