Day Traders Diary

2/12/10

U.S. stocks on Friday opened steeply lower after China unexpectedly hiked bank reserve requirements, adding to worries for investors already concerned about a possible default by Greece. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 131 points to 10,012. The S&P 500 Index shed 13 points to 1,065. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 23 points to 2,153. Not a lot of stocks trading higher. On the earnings front Cheesecake Factory, McAfee, AllianceBernstein, and Agilent are modestly higher following earnings. Buffalo Wild Wing and Ingersoll Rand are lower by over 8% following earnings. Buffalo Wild Wing is also lower following earnings. Plenty of upgrades this morning, but they are not helping much. In the tech sector Apple, Marvell Tech, Qualcomm, HP, NetAppliance, and Research in Motion were all upgraded. Qualcomm and Research in Motion are the only two modestly higher. Motorola is up 2% on news the company plans to split into two companies next year. Through the first hour the averages pushed to new lows before recovering a little bit. A big reweighting in the S&P 500 will occur today with money managers selling to make room for Berkshire Hathaway to join the index. Berkshire is trading up ahead of this transaction at the close. Through the morning the averages slowly improved. During the lunch hour the Nasdaq briefly moved into the green led by the techs. The chip stocks have had a nice turn around. In the afternoon the averages went up, then down, and then recovered a little into the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Aveage finished down 45 points at 10,099, leaving the blue chip average up 0.9% from the week-ago close. The S&P 500 Index declined 2 points to 1,075, leaving it up 0.9% for the week. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 6 points, or 0.3%, to 2,183, giving it a 2% weekly gain.

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