Day Traders Diary

9/24/24

The major averages moved into the green this afternoon following weakness earlier due to softer-than-expected consumer confidence reading out this morning. The Dow Jones rose 83 points or 0.2% The S&P 500 rose 14 points while the Nasdaq Composite rose 100 points or 0.56%.

Consumer confidence fell to the lowest level in more than three years for September, the Conference Board said on Tuesday. The Board's Consumer Confidence Index pulled back to 98.7 for the month, down from 105.6 in August and below the 104 Dow Jones consensus estimate. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was higher by a basis point to 3.75%, while the 2-year Treasury yield was lower by 2 basis points to 3.55%.

Also, out this morning were comments from JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon about geopolitical instability "getting worse" that could influence "the state of the economy" moving forward.

The futures were initially higher to start the day as China initiated stimulus efforts to stoke their economic growth. Chinese stocks, Alibaba and JD.com were up 7% and 13% respectively. Industrial stock like Caterpillar was up 3%. The casino stocks also performed well. Wynn Resorts rose 4%

In individual news, Visa was lower by 5% on antitrust concerns. Uber jumped 3% on a strong buy. Regeneron fell 4% as Amgen will launch a competing eye treatment that could rival Regeneron's biggest drug that generates $9 billion in sales.  

Month to date the Dow is up 1.4% in September. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq have risen 1% and 1.2%, respectively.

Rate-sensitive sectors such as utilities and financials have moved higher in recent weeks in anticipation of the Fed's cuts. There are now four sectors in the S&P 500 outperforming the market in 2024, compared to just two sectors back in July, according to Paul Hickey, co-founder of Bespoke Investment Group.