Day Traders Diary
5/4/10
U.S. stocks opened sharply lower as worries reignited over European national debts like Greece and more recently Spain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 147 points to 11,004. The S&P 500 Index declined 16 points to 1,185. The Nasdaq Composite declined 47 points to 2,450. Even though we were up a lot yesterday, it felt like were going to go back down today. I hate when I'm right. Plenty of earnings keep flooding in. Pfizer and Merck are the sole winners in the Dow thanks to better than expected earnings. Rival, Bristol Myers is higher on an upgrade. In the retail space Ann Taylor and Cabelas are higher following earnings. And that's about it for the good news. Mastercard, UBS, Molson Coors, Tenet Healthcare, Sirius Satellite, Duke Energy, Archer Daniels, CVS Caremark, Baker Hughes, Arcelor Mittal, Xerox, Rowan, Checkpoint Software, St Joe Company, Great Wolf, Teva Pharma, Vornado Reality, and Martin Marietta are all lower following earnings. The commodities are taking it on the chin once again. Freeport McMoRan is down 5% to new recent lows. Transocean is lower once again. BP is actually higher. The techs are weak this morning. Google is down 3% to new recent lows. That stock is not acting well at all. Even Apple is lower. The financials are lower, but not as much as the broader market. This oil spill is taking some of the heat off Goldman Sachs. After the first half an hour the averages remain weak with the Dow dropping 160 points. The Nasdaq declined 57 points. Through the morning and into the afternoon the averages kept drifting lower. Not many bounces in the averages. The defensive stocks are acting well like Pfizer and Merck. Ironically, Goldman Sachs and BP, two vilified companies in the last week are trading higher. Entering the last hour the averages remain weak with the Dow down over 200 points. The Nasdaq declined 75 points or 3%. The only good thing to occur in the last hour was we didn't sell off any more. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 225 points, or 2%, to 10,926, marking its worst point drop since February. The S&P 500 index fell 28 points, or 2.4%, to 1,173, its worst percentage drop since Feb. 4. The Nasdaq Composite fell the hardest of the major averages, dropping 74 points, or 3%, to 2,424.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.