Day Traders Diary

9/16/24

The major averages closed mixed with the Dow Jones higher, making a new high while the S&P 500 was modestly higher and the Nasdaq lower ahead of the Federal Reserve's rate cut decision on Wednesday. The Dow Jones rose 228 points getting a lift from Cisco, Intel, Merck and the financial stocks. The S&P 500 was up 7 points while the Nasdaq fell 91 points or 0.5%.  

All eyes were on the Fed, set to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday and is widely anticipated to lower rates for the first time since it began its hiking cycle in March 2022. The markets are currently pricing in a 63% possibility that the central bank will cut rates by 50 basis points, per the CME Group's FedWatch. The 10-year Treasury was down 3 basis points to 3.62%. The 2-year Treasury yield slipped 2 basis points to 3.553%.

Apple was the weakest Dow component, dragging down a lot of the tech sector as well on concerns for demand of the iphone 16. Chips were lower after a great week last week. Micron was down 4% on a downgrade.

The financial and energy sectors added 0.9% today with the information technology down 0.7%, the weakest sector.

The Dow hit a new high with the S&P 500 around 1% away from its July record and could notch a new all-time high this week. After a rough start to a historically weak September, the three major U.S. indexes ended last week's trading session in the green, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq just closing their best week of 2024.