Day Traders Diary
5/17/10
U.S. stocks opened tentatively higher on Monday as caution prevailed amid worry over the health of the Europe's economy and a 5% decline in the Shanghai Index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 36 points to 10,656. The S&P 500 Index added 5 points to 1,141. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 14 points to 2,361. Last Monday we rallied 400 points. We may not get that today. On the earnings front Lowes is down 4% even though they beat estimates. The stock has had a nice run up. Home Depot is down in sympathy. Paint company, Valspar is up 5% after easily beating estimates. Sirius Satellite is higher on an upgrade. In the tech sector Dell and HP are higher on upgrades. Corning is trading higher while Google continues its' downward trend. The financials open higher, but then sold off. Visa and Mastercard remain in the green on upgrades. In the commodity space Shell and Apache are higher on upgrades. BP is modestly lower on more negative press regarding the oil spill. After the first half an hour the Dow sold off into the red. The Nasdaq sold off then rebounded. Through the morning the averages pushed lower as the correction takes hold. The Dow fell 90 points. The Nasdaq declined 15 points. Only a hand full of stocks are in the green. Entering the lunch hour the selling accelerated with the Dow dropping 150 points. The Nasdaq declined over 30 points. After the quick sell off, the averages slowly recovered in the afternoon. In the last hour the rally accelerated with the averages recovering all the losses. A wild ride. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 5 points at 10,625, led by a 1.7% gain in Kraft Foods and a 1.5% rise in AT&T. The S&P 500 ended up a point at 1136. The Nasdaq rose 7 points to 2354.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.