Day Traders Diary

7/29/20

The major averages rose once again led by tech shares as the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged, in a move that was widely expected by traders. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 160 points, or 0.8%. The S&P 500 climbed 1.2%. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.3%.

Facebook and Amazon each rose more than 1% along with Apple and Amazon. Those gains came as each company's CEO testified in front of U.S. lawmakers following a yearlong probe into their anti-competitive practices. Investors looked for insights on how Big Tech is handling antitrust challenges from regulators with the authority to break them up.

Shares of Big Tech are among the best performers this year. Facebook and Alphabet are both up more than 12% year to date entering Wednesday's session. Amazon has skyrocketed 62.4% over that time and Apple is up 27%.

The Federal Reserve left rates unchanged today stating that U.S. economic activity and employment has picked up somewhat in recent months but remains well below the levels at the beginning of the year.

Earnings remained mixed, but notable standouts included Advanced Micro Devices rose 12%, Shopify rose 7% and Starbucks rose 3%. Dow component Visa (V 198.58, +1.84, +0.9%) overcame a negative start following its positive report. 

On the downside, Boeing fell 2.8% while the General Electric 4% closed sharply lower following their earnings reports. Boeing also said it expects to cut 19,000 jobs and estimated it will take around three years for travel to return to 2019 levels, which weighed on the airline stocks.

U.S. Treasuries edged higher after the release of the July FOMC statement, but the moves were minuscule. The 2-yr yield declined one basis point to 0.13%, and the 10-yr yield was flat at 0.58%. The U.S. Dollar Index fell another 0.4% to 93.35. WTI crude futures gained 0.6%, or $0.23, to $41.27/bbl.