Day Traders Diary

5/5/25

A quiet day to start the first full week of May with the S&P 500 declining for the first time in 10 trading days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 98 points, or 0.24%. The S&P 500 fell 36 points, coming into the session riding a nine-day winning streak, its longest since 2004. The Nasdaq fell 133 points or 0.74%.

The major averages recovered off their lows with the Dow falling as much as 253 points. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq lost around 1% each before rebounding.

A quiet day on the earnings front. On the economic front, the Institute for Supply Management reflected stronger-than-expected service sector activity in April, even as company executives reported rising concern about tariffs. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose 2 basis points to 4.33%. The 2-year Treasury yield was little changed at 3.84%.

A quiet day for earnings, but there was one merger to speak of. Skechers jumped 24% after agreeing to be taken private for $9.4 billion in a cash deal with 3G Capital.

Over the weekend, Warren Buffett announced he would step down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. The stock is down 4% following earnings and their annual meeting.  The 94-year-old Buffett generated 20% annual returns since 1965 verse the S&P 500 10% annual returns, making investors 40,000 times their money over the last six decades. A $1,000 investment in Berkshire Hathaway in 1965, when Warren Buffett took control, would be

In the commodity space, oil fell 2% to its lowest level since 2021 as OPEC+ agreed to increase production. Gold jumped 3% on a weak dollar as a safe haven demand. Bitcoin fell a percent after a nice run up the last two weeks.