Day Traders Diary

9/21/23

The major averages fell once again, deepening the losses for the week, as Treasury yields climbed to multiyear highs amid the Federal Reserve's plan to keep interest rates at higher levels for longer.The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped fell 370 points or 1%. The S&P 500 fell 72 points or 1.6% while the Nasdaq fell 245 points or 1.82%.  Tesla, Alphabet and Nvidia all lost more than 2%.

The Dow and S&P 500 were on track to end the week down more than 1% and 2%, respectively, while the Nasdaq was poised to fall more than 3%. The major averages also registered their third straight daily loss.

The 10-year Treasury yield hit 4.48%, its highest in more than 15 years, with the latest catalyst being weekly jobless claims data showing a still strong labor market that could encourage the Fed to stay in hiking mode. Weekly jobless claims decreased by 20,000 to 201,000 for the week ending Sept. 16, much lower than the 225,000 claims expected by economists polled by Dow Jones. It was the lowest volume of new unemployment claims since January.

The 2-year yield topped 5.19% after the jobs data Thursday, also the highest levels seen since 2007.

Losses intensified following news that House Republican leaders sent the chamber into recess on Thursday, bolstering fears that federal lawmakers won't pass a bill to avert a government shutdown. Market participants are concerned that a shutdown would hurt fourth-quarter GDP.

In corporate news, the marketing automation firm Klaviyo closed higher by 3% Thursday after coming public recently.

FedE bucked the negative trend today gaining more than 4% after delivering strong earnings.

Fox Corp jumped as Rupert Murdoch stepping down as chairman of each of his three boards including chairman of Fox Corp.

Big data/cybersecurity software company Splunk rose 20% after agreeing to be acquired by Cisco for $28 billion. Cisco expects the combination to create and drive the next generation of AI-enabled security and software.