Day Traders Diary

9/25/20

The major averages rose sharply on Friday, recovering some of their losses for the week, as tech shares clawed back some of their big September declines. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 358 points or 1.3%. The S&P 500 climbed 1.6%. The Nasdaq Composite popped 2.6%. It was the best day for the major averages since Sept. 9.

Shares of Amazon rose 2.5% and Facebook gained 2.1%. Apple advanced 3.8% and Microsoft climbed 2.3%. Netflix closed 2.1% higher. The S&P 500 tech sector jumped 2.4% and for its best day since Sept. 9, when it popped 3.4%.

Cruise operators also contributed to Friday's gains. Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean were up 8.5%, 12.2% and 7.7%, respectively, after an upgrade from a Barclays analyst.

For the week, the Dow was down 2.6% while the S&P 500 has lost 1.5%. The two market benchmarks were headed for their first four-week losing streak since August 2019. The Nasdaq eked out a small week-to-date gain.

The major averages have also had a tough month, with the S&P 500 falling more than 5% in September. The Dow has dropped 4.5% over that time period and the Nasdaq is down 7.4% month to date.

Much of September's losses have been concentrated in mega-cap tech stocks, which carry a heavy weight in the indexes. Shares of Apple, the largest publicly traded company in the U.S. by market cap,  have declined more than 13% this month. Microsoft, Alphabet, Netflix, Amazon and Facebook are all down at least 7.6% over that time period.

The state of the economic recovery has become a hot topic in recent weeks on Wall Street, especially after the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg led many strategists to downgrade the chances for another relief package before the election. On Thursday, Goldman Sachs cut its fourth-quarter projection for gross domestic product growth to 3% on an annualized basis, down from 6%.

House Democrats are preparing a $2.4 trillion relief package that they could vote on as soon as next week, a source familiar with the plans told CNBC. The bill would include enhanced unemployment benefits and aid to airlines, but the overall price tag remains well above what Republican leaders have said they are willing to spend.

The U.S. Treasury market remained uneventful. The 2-yr yield finished flat at 0.13%, and the 10-yr yield declined one basis point to 0.66%. The U.S. Dollar Index advanced 0.3% to 94.59. WTI crude futures shed 0.2%, or $0.09, to settle at $40.22/bbl.