Day Traders Diary

2/28/25

The major averages soared into the close wrapping up a volatile week and a losing month for the major averages even as talks between President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy unraveled in the Oval Office infront of the media, raising concerns about heightened geopolitical risks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 601 points, or 1.39%, closing at 43,840. The S&P 500 added 92 points or 1.59% on Friday to close at 5,954. The Nasdaq Composite rose 302 points climbed 1.63% to settle at 18,847.28.

Part of the rally into the close is being attributed to index rebalancing and other technical-buying sources. There was a heavy imbalance to the buy side of market-on-close orders at the New York Stock Exchange.

On the weak, the S&P 500 declined roughly 1% and 1.4% for February. The Dow rose on the week by nearly 1%, but down 1.6% for the month. The Nasdaq took it on the chin this week, falling 3.5% and down 4% for the month. The Nasdaq is also negative on the year down over 2%.

Today in the tech sector, Dell and HP were lower on earnings. Part of the sell off for these two was due to concerns of trade tariffs hurting future sales.

Outside a select few tech stocks, the broader market was very strong.

The benchmark 10-year yield Treasury yield fell 6 basis points to 4.22%. The 2-year Treasury yield fell 8 basis points with yields closing at 3.99% on the geopolitical tension.

In the commodity space, Gold was down a percent, its worst week in three months due in part to a robust dollar. Oil was lower by a percent, first monthly drop since November. Bitcoin rose a percent, but had its worst week in over 2 years.