Day Traders Diary
12/3/10
U.S. stocks on Friday opened modestly lower after a disappointing November jobs report that had some questioning the data. "The market is going to react to it, but you do have to take it with a grain of salt," said Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald. "Number one is it is a lagging indicator, and number two, certain things don't seem right about it," including the government's finding that jobs were lost in retail, a sector that reported robust sales in recent months. After a two days of triple-digit gains, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 26 points to 11,336. The S&P 500 Index fell 2 points to 1,218. The Nasdaq Composite declined 5 points to 2,574. Very little news this morning except for the lousy unemployment data. Bonds initially rallied, but then sold off. The US dollar dropped causing commodities to bounce. Freeport McMoran is up a percent to a new 52 week high. The fertilizers and Cliffs Natural Resources are trading higher as well. Transocean is higher on an upgrade. Rio Tinto is up a percent after announcing a joint venture in China. The tech space opened lower, but then bounced back. Intel, IBM, Texas Instruments, Microsoft, and Research in Motion are all higher after opening lower. Two chip stocks, PMC Sierra and NSM are jumping 3% on upgrades. Ebay, Marvell, and Broadcom are lower on downgrades. The financials are modestly lower except for US Bancorp. Spanish bank, Banco Santander is jumping 5% on an upgrade. The retailers are modestly lower. Big Lots is down 4% after cutting their outlook. Chipotle Mexican Grill is down 4% on a downgrade. Panera Bread, Target, Walmart, Kohls, Gap and a number of other retailers are lower. Deckers Outdoor is bucking the trend, jumping 4% on an upgrade. After the first hour the averages fought back to the unchanged level, but then sold back off. It's going to be tough to rally in the short term following that lousy economic data. Through the morning the averages remained modestly in the red. The only sector showing any life is the commodities. In the afternoon the Nasdaq improved moving into the green. The Dow remains modestly in the red. The commodities remain the strongest sector. Agrium is up a percent on an upgrade. Even a couple of banks have moved into the green. Go figure. In the last hour all the major averages moved into the green. What a turnaround. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 19 points at 11,382, leaving the blue chips up 2.6% on the week. The S&P 500 climbed 3 points to 1,224 giving it a 3% jump from the week-ago close. The Nasdaq Composite gained 12 points to 2,591 for, a weekly gain of 2.2%.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.