Day Traders Diary
12/15/10
U.S. stocks wavered at Wednesday's start, with investors questioning whether to continue a rise that has pushed the S&P 500 up for the last six sessions straight. Worries about Europe's debt weighed after the rating agency Moody's warned it might cut Spain's credit rating. The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 3 point to 11,479. The S&P 500 Index fell a point to 1,239. The Nasdaq Composite fell 3 points to 2,624. On the earnings front Joy Global is up 5% after beating estimates. Grocery companies Kroger and Safeway are higher on upgrades. Plenty of upgrades this morning. Oracle, Broadcom, Raxspace, Google, and Apple all received upgrades. Broadcom is actually trading down 4%. Actually not many techs are trading higher. The financials opened lower, but then rebounded into the green. Regions Financial and BankAtlantic are higher on rumors of a takeover from PNC. All the regional banks are performing well. Bank of Nova Scotia is modestly higher on an upgrade. T Rowe Price is higher on an upgrade. The insurance stocks continue to perform well. After the first half an hour the averages moved into the green led by the financials. The transportation stocks have performed great. Ryder Systems is up 3% on an upgrade. The commodity space is trying to improve even though the US dollar is higher. Dynegy is up 3% after agreeing to be taken over. Freeport McMoran remains one of the few commodities trading lower. Caterpillar is modestly higher on an upgrade. The auto space is performing well. GM is higher after selling their first electric car this morning. Ford is up a percent as well. Through the morning the averages remained in the green, but no follow through. In the afternoon the averages pulled into the red similar to the last couple of days. Some of this has to do with volume drying up here at the end of the year. In the last hour some buyers showed up indicating that while the markets may not want to go up much more, it also doesn't want to go down. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 19 points at 11,457. The S&P 500 ended down 6 points to 1,235, dragged lower by utilities and financial stocks. The Nasdaq Composite fell 10 points to 2,617 points.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.