Day Traders Diary

9/19/24

The major averages surge with the Dow Jones rising to new all-time highs, as investors reassess the Federal Reserve's decision yesterday to lower interest rates by a half percentage point. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is jumping 582 points, or 1.4%, topping 42,000 for the first time. The S&P 500 is up 98 points while the Nasdaq Composite is up 465 points or 2.6%.

It's a risk on day as money floods back into tech stocks. The AI stocks are surging with Nvidia up 4%, AMD is up 5% and Broadcom is up 4%. Big cap tech is also doing well with Apple, Meta and Tesla up 3% or more. Very few tech stocks are lower.

The bank stocks are also having a good day. Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup are up 2% or more. Citi is up 4%. The regional banks are also performing well.

Consumer staples and old blue chip stocks, which have performed well the last several months, are quiet or in the red today.

The 10-year Treasury rose 4 basis points to 3.72%. The 2-year Treasury yield was down a basis point to 3.59% after the Fed rate cut.  Today, weekly jobless claims fell by 12,000 to 219,000, which was far below estimates, according to labor market data released Thursday.

So far September has been very good for the markets. Traders at Oppenheimer pointed out that since 1950, the S&P 500 has reached record levels this month on 22 occasions. In 20 of those instances, the S&P 500 has followed that with a strong fourth-quarter performance.