Day Traders Diary

11/19/08

U.S. stocks set to open lower once again following more weak economic news. No inflation anymore as consumer prices continue to drop. The housing starts hit a record low. Plus the big three automakers need money from Congress to stay alive. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 41 points to 8,383. The S&P 500 declined 3 points to 856, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 5 points to 1,477. Very few stocks are higher. The commodities are hanging in there. Halliburton is positive on comments from the CEO stating they are well positioned even though oil has declined. A few select techs are higher like Adobe, Research in Motion, Apple, and Hewlett Packard. Cisco Systems is lower on a downgrade. The financials are lower once again. Citigroup made a new low and then recovered a little. After the first hour the averages were back in the green, but not by much. A number of retailers are lower like Ross Stores and Jack in the Box following earnings. LDK Solar is down 8% following earnings. First Solar is down 5% on a downgrade. Analysts met with Metlife last night and came away bullish. Credit Suisse said the stock is oversold. Fox Pitt maintained their target price of $50 a share. And where is the stock? Down 7%. It's a bear market. Through the morning and into the afternoon, the averages moved lower. Most of the financials are making new lows including Citigroup. At 2 o'clock, the Fed minutes indicated that things are not getting any better. The Dow moved to new lows on the data, but the minutes shouldn't have been that surprising. In the last hour, more selling. It's not looking good. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 426 points, or 5.1%, at 7,997, with all 30 of its components finishing in the red. The S&P 500 dropped 52 points, or 6.1%, to 806, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 96 points, or 6.5%, to end at 1,886.

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