Day Traders Diary

11/26/24

The major averages closed higher looking past the threat of new tariffs from President-elect Donald Trump. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 123 points even as Amgen fell 4%. The S&P 500 rose 34 points or 0.56%. The Nasdaq rose 119 points or 0.63%.  

Trump last night called for a 25% tariff on products from Mexico and Canada, as well as an additional 10% levy on Chinese goods. He has already said he would impose a tariff of up to 20% on all imports, and an additional duty of at least 60% on products from China.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo indicated on Tuesday that any new tariffs on her country would be met with retaliatory tariffs on exports from the U.S The iShares MSCI Mexico ETF (EWW), which tracks a basket of equities tied to America's southern neighbor, shed more than 2%.

On the earnings front, a number of retailers were lower including Kohl's, Best Buy, Dicks, Burlington and Abercrombie and Fitch. Smucker bucked the trend, up on strong earnings.

The dog of the day goes to Amgen down 4% as their experimental weight loss drug helped patients lose up to 17% of their weight after a year, but at the low end of investor expectations. Some analysts had been hoping for weight loss up to 25% in the phase two trial.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose more than 5 basis points to 4.31% while the 2-year Treasury yield was almost 3 basis points higher at 4.28% as the Fed minutes indicate gradual rate cuts.

Oil prices were modestly lower today. Gold was modestly higher while Bitcoin took a hit down 4%.