Day Traders Diary
8/30/10
U.S. stocks opened mildly lower following modest improvement in personal income and personal spending data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 19 points to 10,130. The S&P 500 Index declined a point to 1,063. The Nasdaq Composite shed 5 points to 2,148. A nice bounce on Friday has caused some profit-taking this morning. Intel continues to make news. First they announce a big deal to buy McAfee, then they lower guidance last Friday, and over the weekend they bought a division of Infineon for $1.4 billion. Intel is lower by 2% following a number of downgrades as the lower guidance is portending toward more weakness in the next several months. Most techs and especially chips are lower. QLogic is jumping 3% after announcing a $200 million stock buyback. A number of buybacks this morning and deals, but investors are more focused on the weak economic data. HP is up 3% after announcing a $10 billion buyback. Plantronics is modestly higher after announcing a buyback as well. On the deal front, other than Intel, 3M and Charles Schwab also announced small deals. Sanofi continues to stalk Genzyme. Genzyme is jumping 4%. So the companies being acquired are performing well this morning, but the rest of the market is weaker. After the first hour the Dow fell 50 points. The Nasdaq declined 11 points. The last full week of summer will be slow and probably weak. Through the morning the averages moved lower. The financials are all making new lows. In the retail space Lulumon is down 8% on a downgrade regarding slowing sales. Fossil is jumping 5% to a new high thanks to a share buyback. I don't think at a 52 week high is the time to announce share buybacks. In the afternoon the averages moved lower following the President's comments on how to get the economy going once again. It seems Wall Street doesn't trust the President. In the last hour the selling accelerated with the averages closing on the lows wiping out most of Fridays gains. Not good at all. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 140 points, or 1.4%, to 10,009, as 29 of its 30 components ended lower. Hewlett-Packard was the sole blue-chip gainer, gaining 1.5% after it announced a share-repurchase plan amid its pursuit of a deal to acquire 3Par. The S&P 500 index fell 15 points or 1.5% to end at 1,048, weighed down by a 2.2% drop in the financial sector. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 33 points or 1.6% to 2,119.All comments contained herein are for informational purposes only, and should not be considered as a solicitation to buy or sell any security. The firm does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information or make any warranties regarding results from it's usage.