Day Traders Diary

9/6/24

The major averages took it on the chin with the S&P 500 notching its worst week since March 2023, even as the August jobs report was not as dire as feared. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 410.34 points, or 1.01%. The S&P 500 fell 94 points or 1.7% while the Nasdaq fell 436 points or 2.55%.

The sell off was led by tech once again with Broadcom dropping 10% even as earnings were better than expected and revenue grew 47% year over year to $13.07 billion. Nvidia fell 4%, while the rest of the chips were down 3% to 2% each. Al the big cap techs fell as well with Google, Meta and Amazon down 3% or more. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF declined 4%, posting its worst week since March 2020.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell just one basis point to 3.72%. The 2-year Treasury yield dropped 9 basis points to 3.66%. Nonfarm payrolls grew by 142,000, versus a 161,000-gain expected by economists polled by Dow Jones. However, the unemployment rate edged down to 4.2%, in line with expectations. The economic data all week pointed to a slowing economy and the need for rate cuts to prevent and further weakening in the economy.

The modest strength in the markets was in the defensive sectors with AT&T up a percent and consumer staples and tobacco stocks with above average dividends higher as well.

On the week, the S&P 500 declined 4.3%, its worst week since March 2023. The Nasdaq shed 5.8% for its worst week since 2022, while the 30-stock Dow slumped 2.9%.