Day Traders Diary

12/2/08

The averages are set for a little bounce a day after the Dow saw its fourth-biggest point drop on record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 59 points to 8,210. GE is up 3% after lowering fourth-quarter earnings to the low end of range. The company continues to reiterate they will maintain the dividend. The S&P 500 index gained 12 points to 828 while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 14 points to 1,412. Most of the financials are up after getting slaughtered yesterday. Goldman and Morgan had their earnings estimates cut. The Wall Street Journal thinks Goldman will kitchen sink the quarter and lose $2 billion. The stock is down 2.5%. JP Morgan is making news by cutting 9,200 jobs at Washington Mutual, half in Seattle. Happy Holidays. The retail sector continues to report dismal results. Sears missed estimates by a wide margin, actually reporting a loss. The stock however is higher. Staples is up 10% even though net income dropped 43%. The commodities are rebounding this morning except for the fertilizers. Mosaic is down 5% after cutting production. The averages took off ahead of a speech by President-elect Obama. After the first hour the Dow was up 157 points. The Nasdaq improved by 29 points. During the lunch hour the averages pushed higher. But not all stocks are higher. Research in Motion is down 8% on no news. Goldman Sachs is down 6%. 3M is down 4% on a downgrade. Sanderson Farms is down 5% as one of their competitors, Pilgrims Pride, goes under. As the afternoon progressed, the rally fizzled. Here we go again. The averages drifted down to the unchanged level before bouncing back. Entering the last hour, the Dow was up 100 points. It promptly sold off over to rebound once again. Crazy market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 270 points to end at 8,419. The S&P 500 Index gained 32 points or 4% to 848, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 51 points to 1,449.

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