Day Traders Diary

4/19/10

U.S. stocks wavered between gains and losses in the early going on following better than expected earnings from Citigroup. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4 points to 11,014. The S&P 500 Index fell 2 points to 2,189. The Nasdaq Composite fell 2 points to 2,478. Citigroup is jumping 6% after making 15 cents or $4 billion. Goldman Sachs is still under pressure following worries about the government's civil fraud suit against them. Bank of America is higher after receiving four upgrades. Bank of New York and State Street are higher thanks to a positive article in Barrons. M&T Bank is higher after beating estimates. Visa is higher thanks to an upgrade. A REIT, Ares Capital is jumping 3% on an upgrade. Other than Goldman, the financials look pretty good. In the tech sector Intel, Novellus, and Microsoft are higher on upgrades. Xerox is higher on an upgrade. Apple was upgraded, but the stock is modestly lower. Palm is down 8% on a downgrade. In the retail space Hasbro is higher following earnings. Lowes is higher on an upgrade. Mohawk Industries is jumping 3% on an upgrade. After the first half an hour the averages started cooking. The Dow rose 25 points. The Nasdaq rose 2 points. Even Goldman's stock has rebounded. Through the morning the rally fizzled. The financials and techs sold back off. Citigroup continues to perform well following earnings. IBM is higher ahead of earnings tonight. The commodities prices are weaker today. An oil and gas company McMorRan is lower by 10% following earnings. DuPont, Arch Coal, and Halliburton are modestly higher on upgrades. Heading into the lunch hour the selling accelerated particularly in the tech sector. By the middle of the afternoon the Dow recovered again, rallying 40 points. The Nasdaq slowly improved. Heading into the last hour, Goldman Sachs rallied back into the green. IBM still looks good ahead of earnings. In the last hour the Dow kept improving. The Dow average finished up 73 points, or 0.7%, at 11,092. The S&P 500 gained 5 points, or 0.45%, to 1,197 while the Nasdaq dropped a point to 2480.

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