Day Traders Diary

1/8/10

U.S. stocks opened lower on Friday as investors registered initial dismay over a mostly disappointing jobs report. For the month of December the U.S. lost 80,000 jobs, however we did get a revised November employment number of a plus 4,000 jobs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 26 points to 10,579. The S&P 500 dropped 2 points to 1,139 while the Nasdaq Composite Index declined a point to 2,298. The averages are quiet, but there are some stocks moving. UPS is jumping 5% after lifting guidance for the quarter. FedEx is up as well. The financials are modestly lower after a nice run up this week. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan all had their numbers cut this morning. Barclays, Visa, Deutsche Bank, and Mastercard are modestly higher on upgrades. Bank of America and GE continue to perform well. The techs opened lower, but then rebounded. Garmin is up 4% on an upgrade. IBM, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Research in Motion are modestly higher. Qualcomm is higher even though one analyst made cautious comments. Netgear is higher on positive comments from Barrons. The retail space is lower following a strong day yesterday. Boeing, Macys, and Coke are lower on downgrades. JC Penney, Tiffanys, and Aeropostale are lower on upgrades. Best Buy posted strong sales for December, but the stock is lower. Chipotle Mexican Grill is up 6% on an upgrade. The commodities, in particular, the fertilizers are trading higher. After the first hour the Dow remained weak. The Nasdaq is in the green by 6 points. Through the morning the Dow pulled back a few points while the Nasdaq inched higher thanks to the big techs. In the afternoon more of the same. In the last hour the Nasdaq moved higher dragging the Dow out of the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 11 points at 10,618, giving it a weekly and yearly rise of 1.8%. The S&P 500 climbed 3 points to 1,144, up 2.7% for the week and year. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 17 points to 2,317, rallying 2.1% for the week and the year.

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