Day Traders Diary
9/8/10
U.S. stocks opened with modest gains Wednesday as Portugal's successful auction of debt helped offset concern about European banks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 36 points to 10,377. The S&P 500 rose 3 points to 1,095, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 12 points to 2,221. In the tech sector Ciena is jumping 6% thanks to better than expected earnings. Tyco is jumping 2% after announcing a share buyback. Jabil Circuit, Dell, and Sycamore Networks are all higher on upgrades. Seagate, Veeco Instruments, HP, and Intel are lower following downgrades. In the retail space Smithfield Foods is up 2% following earnings. Priceline, Costco, and Staples are higher following upgrades. Dicks is lower on a downgrade and Talbots is down 3% following earnings. The financials opened modestly higher and continued to improve along with the major averages. After the first hour the Dow rose 70 points. The Nasdaq improved by 23 points. Goldman Sachs is jumping 2.5% due to news they may spin off their principal strategies division. Through the rest of the morning the averages remained strong near the highs of the day. In the afternoon the averages gave up some of their gains before the Beige Book which showed a slowing of economic activity. Entering the last hour the averages actually improved and had to fight to hold on to the gains into the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 46 points at 10,387, with 24 of its 30 components ending higher, led by a 2% gain in shares of Alcoa. The S&P 500 index rose 7 points to 1,098, led by a 1% advance in financials and in the industrials sector. The Nasdaq Composite rose 19 points to 2,228.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.