Day Traders Diary

4/16/20

Stocks rose slightly on Thursday, led by tech sector as Wall Street grapples with more concerns over the coronavirus outbreak and dismal economic data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 33 points at 23,537 after falling over 200 points earlier in the day. The S&P 500 gained 0.6% to close at 2,799 while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.7% to 8,532. The Nasdaq 100, which is composed of the 100 largest stocks in the composite, jumped nearly 2% and erased its 2020 losses. Netflix and Amazon each rose more than 2.5% to record levels, leading major tech stocks higher. Netflix's gains were driven by a big price-target increase from a Goldman Sachs analyst.

The Labor Department said 5.245 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the week of April 11. Last week's claims total brought the number of job losses to 22 million during the coronavirus outbreak.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday the state, in coordination with other states, will keep nonessential businesses shut down until May 15. The extension comes even as the hospitalization rate in New York has fallen. It also comes after President Donald Trump again advocated for a gradual reopening of the economy during a press conference Wednesday evening.

Interestingly, declining issues outpaced advancing issues in both the Nasdaq and NYSE despite the positive indication in the major indices. Laggards were found in areas that have underperformed this year, specifically the energy down 4%, financials down 1.7% and industrials down 0.8% sectors.

The industrials space was pressured by Boeing down 8% and airline stocks after United Airlines provided shareholders with a discouraging update.

U.S. Treasuries continued to show relative strength, pushing yields lower across the curve. The 2-yr yield declined one basis point to 0.19%, and the 10-yr yield declined three basis points to 0.61%. The U.S. Dollar Index increased 0.6% to 100.06. WTI crude declined 0.3% to $19.89/bbl.