Day Traders Diary

5/25/10

U.S. stocks dropped on the open, taking the Dow Jones Industrial Average below 10,000 for the first time since February. Investors are in a selling mood as worries escalate about Europe's debt trouble and rising tensions in Korea. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 218 points, or 2.1%, to 9,848. All 30 components in the Dow are lower. Traveler's stock looks the best down only half a percent. The S&P 500 Index declined 23 points, or 2.2%, to 1,050. The Nasdaq Composite shed 52 points, or 2.4%, to 2,161. Nothing looks good. I found one stock, Autozone, trading up 2% at new highs following earnings. And that's about it for the good news. Medtronics, Sanderson Farms, Cracker Barrel, J. Crew, Trina Solar, and DSW are all lower following better than expected earnings. AK Steel, PNC Bank, Sandisk, Micron, Cliffs Natural Resources, Nike, and NetApp are all lower on upgrades. Go figure. Within the first 20 minutes of trading the Dow dropped 300 points and then rebounded. Goldman Sachs rallied into the green shortly after the open. At least one bank is higher. Through the morning the averages did not budge much with the Dow remaining down 180 to 200 points. Goldman Sachs remains one of the few stocks trading higher. In the afternoon we had a slow motion rally with a few more stocks popping into the green. The financials are perking up on news out of DC that the financial reform package will not be as severe as feared. In the last hour the rally accelerated led by the financials. The only question is will we make it to positive territory. The Dow industrials finished down 22 points, or 0.2%, at 10,043. The Blue-chip gains were led by shares of Home Depot up 2.3% and Alcoa up 1.9%. In the broad market, the S&P 500 index rose 38 cents to 1,074, led by the materials sector, up 1.6%, and the financials and consumer discretionary sectors, both up 0.8%. The Nasdaq Composite ended down 2 points at 2,210.

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