Day Traders Diary

8/16/10

U.S. stocks opened lower on Monday, extending a losing streak into a fifth consecutive session, as data from Japan furthered worries about the global economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 59 points to 10,243. The S&P 500 declined 6 points to 1,073. The Nasdaq Composite shed 11 points to 2,162. The Dow dropped a quick 90 points before recovering. The analyst community seems to be turning on this market as well. Within the tech sector Intel, AMD, Analog Devices, and Corning all received downgrades. Corning made a small acquisition over the weekend. VMware is modestly higher on an upgrade. The diamond of the day goes to 3Par up 85% after Dell agreed to acquire the firm for $1.15 billion. Rival, Compellent Tech is higher on hopes they will be acquired as well. The financials opened lower, but rebounded to the unchanged level. Blackrock is modestly lower on news Bank of America may pare some of its stake in Blackrock. Genworth is modestly higher on an upgrade. In the retail space Lowes is up 3% following earnings. Their paint provider, Valspar is down 2% following earnings. Sysco is also lower following earnings. Petsmart is higher thanks to an upgrade. Within the first hour the averages battled all the way back to the unchanged level. Chesapeake Energy, and Schlumberger are higher thanks to upgrades. The fertilizer stocks and Freeport McMoRan look good this morning as well. How can the commodity stocks be performing so well when everything else is not? Through the morning and into the afternoon the averages remain pretty much unchanged. The averages did dip into the last hour only to rally back to the unchanged level by the close. For the fifth straight day the Dow Jones declined, falling just a point to 10,302. The S&P 500 closed unchanged at 1,079, with materials and tech stocks in the lead. The Nasdaq Composite ended up 8 points at 2,181, coming back a bit from last week's rout.

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