Day Traders Diary

9/11/20

The major averages finished mixed with the Nasdaq Composite declining once again in another volatile session on Friday as the continuing tech sell-off drove the benchmark to its worst week in months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day up 131 points, or 0.5%, at 27,665. The 30-stock average was up 294 points, or 1.1%, at its session high and fell as much as 86 points. The S&P 500 eked out a small gain after gyrating between solid gains and steep losses. The broader-market index closed about 0.1% higher at 3,340. The Nasdaq closed 0.6% lower at 10,853. At its session high, the composite rose as much as 1%; it was down more than 1.7% at one point as well. Apple dropped 1.3% and Amazon fell by 1.9%. Facebook, Alphabet and Microsoft were all down.

Tech selling briefly picked up after Bloomberg News reported, citing sources, that SoftBank was considering changes to its options trading strategy. Last week, SoftBank was identified as the "Nasdaq whale" that bought billions in stock options in a bet for higher prices in Big Tech.

All three of the major averages posted steep losses for the week. The Nasdaq fell 4.1% week to date for its biggest weekly decline since March. The S&P 500 had its worst one-week performance since June, falling 2.5%. The Dow fell 1.7% this week.

Big Tech was also down sharply week to date. Facebook and Amazon each lost more than 5% this week. Apple and Netflix slid 7.4% and 6.6%, respectively. Alphabet and Microsoft were both down more than 4% week to date. Tesla, meanwhile, plunged 10.9% this week. At the S&P 500 sector level, tech fell 4.4% week to date for its biggest one-week loss since March.

Wall Street was coming off a session in which the major averages closed sharply lower after a steep downturn in tech names. Those losses came after the benchmarks gave up solid gains.

On the earnings front, Oracle, Peloton and Kroger finished lower following their earnings reports. Oracle and Peloton initially rose over 7% on the open.

U.S. Treasuries finished on a higher note. The 2-yr yield declined one basis point to 0.13%, and the 10-yr yield declined two basis points to 0.67%. The U.S. Dollar Index declined 0.1% to 93.28. WTI crude futures increased 0.2%, or $0.07, to $37.34/bbl.