Day Traders Diary

2/12/25

The major averages started in the red and remained in the red throughout the day following a hot consumer prices number that rose more than expected in January, raising concern that inflation may reignite. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 237 points, or 0.5% after dropping over 400 points to start. The S&P 500 fell 23 points while the Nasdaq Composite dropped just 13 points.

The 10-year Treasury yield jumped more than 9 basis points to 4.63%, while the 2-year Treasury yield rose 8 basis points to 4.37%. The January consumer price index jumped 0.5% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 3%. Both were more than the 0.3% and 2.9% increases expected by economists polled by Dow Jones. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, core CPI rose 0.4% for the month and 3.3% for the past 12 months, both higher than expected.

Most sectors were mixed to down today. In the mega-cap technology space, Apple rose over a percent on positive analyst comments and news the company is partnering with Alibaba in China to develop AI for the China iphone. Alibaba rose 4% to new recent highs. Tesla is finally bouncing 3% after dropping nearly 30% since mid-December.

On the earnings front, Lyft and Zillow were down over 7% on earnings. In the healthcare space, Gilead and CVS Health jumped 7% and 14% respectively.

In the commodity space, oil dropped nearly 3% on hawkish Fed comments on inflation and interest rate moves. Gold was quiet today while bitcoin rose 2% but still stuck in the middle of its range.