Day Traders Diary

11/10/20

The major averages closed mixed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average built on its sharp gains from the previous session as a market rotation out of names that thrived during the pandemic and into stocks linked to an economic recovery continues. The 30-stock average jumped 263 points, or 0.9%. The S&P 500 fell 4 points or 0.14% while and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 159 points or 1.37%.

Tech came under pressure once again as Amazon fell 3.3% after falling 5% on Monday. Zoom Video dropped 6.6%, adding to its 17% decline from Monday. Alphabet and Microsoft lost 1.4% and 3.5%, respectively. Names that would benefit from an economic recovery rose on Tuesday. Chevron and Exxon Mobil were up 3.8% and 1.6%, respectively. Boeing traded 4.9% higher.

Both the Dow and S&P 500 hit intraday record highs on Monday before closing well off those levels as weakness in the tech sector put pressure on the broader market.

While cyclical stocks led the market advance on Monday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 1.5% as investors dumped some of the popular stay-at-home plays such as Amazon, Zoom Video and Netflix. The Nasdaq finished Monday's session near its session low.

Those moves were sparked by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNTech announcing their coronavirus vaccine was more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19.

Pfizer's big vaccine news came as the U.S. topped 10 million cases of Covid-19, a bleak milestone just 10 days after reaching the 9 million mark amid a record surge in daily infections. Many on Wall Street believe a viable vaccine would be crucial for the economy on its road to a full recovery.

U.S. Treasuries finished near their flat lines in a quiet session, leaving longer-dated yields at recent highs. The 2-yr yield was flat at 0.18%, and the 10-yr yield was flat at 0.96%. The U.S. Dollar Index increased 0.1% to 92.81. WTI crude futures rose 2.6%, or $1.06, to $41.37/bbl.