Day Traders Diary

8-26-24

The major averages closed mixed to start Monday with the Dow Jones making a record highs after the Fed signaled rate cuts coming soon. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 65 points after rising over 200 points earlier in the day. The S&P 500 fell 17 points while the Nasdaq dropped 152 points as the AI stocks took it on the chin.

Traders were back to sector rotation today out of tech and into other areas of the market. Nvidia fell 2% even as they are set to report stellar earnings Wednesday evening. All the chips stocks were in the red. Big cap tech is not doing any better. Apple rebounded into the green as they schedule an iPhone event for September 9^th. Google was modestly higher as well.  

Outside tech, things looked better. Oil stocks and the price of oil were higher as Libya halts production more to do with politics than fundamentals. More conflicts in the Middle East also boosted the price of oil.

Bonds were quiet as the Fed laid out plans to cut at least 25 basis points in September, then possibly November and December,

For the month of August, after an initial sell-off, the S&P 500 surged 8% from the lows set on Aug. 5^th.  The Dow has surged 7% in the same time period. Last week, the small-cap Russell 200 was the big winner up 3% following Powell's comments at Jackson Hole.