Day Traders Diary

8/7/20

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 eked out small gains on Friday, shaking off concerns over rising U.S.-China tensions and ongoing coronavirus stimulus negotiations. The Dow closed up 46 points or 0.2%, at 27,433. The S&P 500 ended the session up 0.1% at 3,351. Those gains were enough to stretch their winning streaks to six days. The Nasdaq Composite lagged, falling 0.9% to 11,010 snapping a seven-session winning streak. Amazon and Netflix fell 1.8% and 2.8%, respectively. Microsoft dropped 1.8% and Apple slid 2.3%.

President Donald Trump on Thursday night issued executive orders to address "the threat posed" by Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat. As part of the order, any transaction with ByteDance and Tencent, the parent companies of TikTok and WeChat, respectively, will be barred in 45 days.

It comes as tensions between Washington and Beijing continue to escalate over several issues including the origins of the coronavirus and democracy in Hong Kong. The U.S. on Friday sanctioned Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam. Meanwhile, talks between the White House and Democratic leaders fell apart as the two sides can reach a deal on a new coronavirus stimulus package.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said late Friday that she told the White House to come back to the table with a higher number for the relief package. Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said no progress was made.

In the markets, money rotated out of the techs into the financials. The S&P 500 financial sector rose 2% with Rocket Companies, parent to Rocket Mortgage up 15% after their IPO yesterday. Within the transports, FedEx rose 6% on an upgrade. UPS rose 7%. T-Mobile US jumped 6% after claiming it's now the second-largest wireless provider in the U.S. Biotech, Biogen jumped 10% after it had its Alzheimer's drug application fast-tracked by the FDA.

U.S. Treasuries finished with modest losses. The 2-yr yield increased two basis points to 0.13%, and the 10-yr yield increased three basis points to 0.56%. The U.S. Dollar Index advanced 0.7% to 93.41. WTI crude futures fell 1.9%, or $0.78, to $41.17/bbl.