Day Traders Diary

3-21-25

The major averages eked out a gain and snapped a four-week losing streak as the US trade policy and tariff turmoil keeps many investors are the sidelines. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 32 points. The S&P 500 rose 4 points while the Nasdaq rose 92 points or 0.52%. The broad-market S&P 500 posted a 0.5% weekly advance, averting a fifth straight week of losses. The Nasdaq rose 0.2%  while the Dow posted a 1.2% gain.

Friday was a "quadruple witching" day, which is when stock options, index futures, index options and single-stock futures expire. Goldman estimated that more than $4.7 trillion of notional options exposure would expire causing some of the volatility today.

Interest rates were quiet today with no major economic data. The benchmark 10-year Treasury rose a basis point to 4.25%, while the 2-year Treasury yield fell a basis point to 3.95%.

No economic data, but plenty of earnings. FedEx fell 6.5% after it cut its earnings outlook, citing "weakness and uncertainty in the U.S. industrial economy." Nike fell 5% after the shoe and apparel giant said sales this quarter would miss analyst expectations due in part to tariffs and falling consumer confidence.

In the tech space, Micron fell 8% on earnings even though the company beat estimates and was relatively bullish about their outlook. The chip sector in general was muted. Big cap tech had a nice rebound led by Tesla up 5%. All the big caps were up except for Nvidia.

Boeing was a standout today up 3% after rallying 6% the other day as news broke today the Trump Administration will award them a $20 billion fighter jet contract over Lockheed Martin. The next-gen jet will be called the F-47, Trump said during the press conference and will replace the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. Lockheed fell 5% on the day.

Oil was modestly higher today and up on the week. Gold was lower due in part to the higher dollar, but did rise on the week. Bitcoin had a good day and week as the Trump administration continues to alleviate restrictions on the crypto currency.