Day Traders Diary
2/22/10
U.S. stocks opened higher on Monday, extending gains into a fifth day, with investor sentiment lifted by a large deal in the energy sector in addition to better-than-expected results from home-improvement retailer Lowe's. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2 points to 10,404. The S&P 500 Index climbed a point to 1,110. The Nasdaq Composite added 2 points to 2,245. A quiet morning so far. Lowes is only modestly higher following earnings. Schlumberger is down 6% following the announcement over the weekend they will buy Smith International for $11 billion. Smith International is trading up 6%. Financials seem to be the best sector so far this morning. JP Morgan, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo are all higher on positive comments from Oppenheimer and in the Wall Street Journal. H&R Block is down 5% on a downgrade. The techs are mixed. Oracle is higher on positive comments regarding the SunMirco merger. Dell is down a percent on an upgrade. Research in Motion is lower on cautious comments. At 10 o'clock, the President outlined more taxes for his healthcare reform causing the averages to sell off. However they did recover after the first hour. Through the rest of the morning the averages stayed just below the unchanged level. The financials are the one sector performing well. Another potential merger was announced during the lunch hour. Life science company, Millipore went halted and then reopened up 35% on a takeover bid. Through the afternoon the averages remained near the unchanged level, selling off a little into the close. The financials remain the strongest sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 18 points at 10,383. The S&P 500 Index shed a point to 1,108. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined a point to 2,242.All comments contained herein are for informational purposes only, and should not be considered as a solicitation to buy or sell any security. The firm does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information or make any warranties regarding results from it's usage.