Day Traders Diary

8/21/24

The major averages closed higher following retail earnings reports and the Federal Reserve's minutes from their last meeting raising hopes of lower rates come September.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 55 points, or 0.014%. The S&P 500 rose 23 points while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 102 points or 0.57%.  

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell 5 basis points to 3.76%. The 2-year Treasury yield was down 10 basis points to 3.903%. The minutes from the latest Fed meeting indicated a majority of participants want to loosen monetary policy if the data continues to come in as expected. Traders are pricing in a 100% chance of a rate cut next month, per the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

On the earnings front, a number of retailers reported today included Target, TJX, Macy, Coty, La-Z-Boy and Toll Brothers. Target was a diamond up 12%. TJX, Toll Brothers and Coty are up 5% or better on earnings. To the downside, Macy is down 11% while La-Z-Boy is down 3%.

Wednesday's moves come a day after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite snapped their longest winning streaks since late 2023. That was just the latest action in a choppy month for equities.