Day Traders Diary

8/14/23

The major averages close quiet, but in the green as Wall Street looks to shake off a rough start to August.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 26 points or 0.08%. The S&P 500 rose 25 points or 0.58% while the Nasdaq rose 143 points or 1.05% even as Telsa fell over a percent after cutting prices for their Model Y car in China.

The moves come as stocks have struggled to sustain their rally here in August. Last week, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3% and 1.9%, respectively. It was the Nasdaq Composite's first two-week losing streak of the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, gained 0.62% for its fourth positive week in five.

This week could be driven by insights into the state of the U.S. consumer, with earnings reports due from Home Depot, Target and Walmart. Retail sales data from July is also due out on Tuesday morning.

The earnings reports are coming after a mixed batch of inflation reports last week, which show that pricing has eased from their post-pandemic peak but are still above the Federal Reserve's 2% target.

On the merger front, United States Steel Corp. is surging after it rejected a takeover offer from rival Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. to create one of the world's biggest steelmakers and said it will begin a review of its strategic options instead.