Day Traders Diary

11/4/24

The major averages pulled back ahead of the U.S. presidential election tomorrow as the Dow Jones shakes up their components. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 257 points or 0.61%. The S&P 500 fell 16 points while the Nasdaq dropped 59 points or 0.33%.  

The weakness in the Dow was partly due to Dow Inc and Intel both dropping over 2% on news they will be removed from the index this week for Sherwin Williams and Nvidia. Nvidia was up 2% while Sherwin was up 4%.

Tech overall was weak today. Berkshire Hathaway was down 3% following earnings over the weekend. The company has started reducing their stake in Apple while also suspending their share buyback plan for their own stock.

The yield on 10-year Treasury fell five basis points to 4.30%. The yield on the 2-year Treasury dipped three basis points to 4.17%. The rally suggests that some investors may be reducing risk ahead of election day. Major changes in control of Congress could also be pivotal tomorrow.

Later in the week, Wall Street is bracing for the latest rate decision from the Federal Reserve on Thursday. Traders are pricing in a 96% likelihood of a 25 basis rate cut at the conclusion of the central bank's policy meeting, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.