Day Traders Diary
3/31/10
U.S. stocks opened lower on this last day of the first quarter. A payroll company ADP reported U.S. employers cut 23,000 jobs in March reversing anticipations of job gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 26 points to 10,880. Honeywell is up a percent after raising guidance last night. The S&P 500 Index shed 3 points to 1,169, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 4 points to 2,406. It's been a good first quarter, but today might be quiet as most money managers have firmed up their positions. In the tech sector Apple, Research in Motion, Intel, and Applied Materials were all upgraded, yet none are reacting much. LSI Logic and Marvell are lower on downgrades. In the retail space Jos A Bank is up 3% on earnings. Dollar General, Rite Aid, and Sealy are lower following earnings. Macys is lower even though they announced they will repurchase $500 million in debt. The financials are modestly lower. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are lower after having their numbers cut. Genworth is performing well up 3% to new highs this morning. Most of the mortgage insurers are higher on positive housing data. After the first half an hour the averages remain in the red, but quiet. After the first hour the averages slowly recovered most of their losses. The techs and financials are perking up. During the lunch hour the Dow fell back into the red, but the financials remain in the green. Ford is lower even though they reiterated 2010 and 2011 guidance. Heading into the last hour the averages sold back off with no rebound into the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 50 points at 10865. The S&P 500 declined 3 points to 1169 while the Nasdaq dropped 12 points to 2397. For the month, the Nasdaq rose 7% while the Dow and S&P500 rose over 5%. For the year the Dow is up 4.1%, the S&P is up 4.8%, and the Nasdaq rose 5.6%. Not bad.
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