Day Traders Diary

12/17/10

U.S. stocks on Friday opened modestly lower after the major averages retested the highs for the year or the last several days. 2010 has been pretty good to investors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 21 points to 11,477. The S&P 500 Index fell a point to 1,241. The Nasdaq Composite rose 5 points to 2,642. On the earnings front, Accenture and Take Two Interactive are both jumping over 9% on blow out earnings. Two big tech giants, Oracle and Research in Motion are up over 2% following better than expected earnings last night. Oracle made a new 52 week high this morning. Apple, Google, IBM, Juniper Networks, and Qlogic were all upgraded, but only Qlogic is modestly higher. In the financial sector, Visa and Mastercard opened higher, but then sold off after getting clobbered yesterday. The analysts seem to be mixed on the news the credit card companies will have to lower their debit card fees. The big banks are quiet this morning. The corporate bond funds have rebounded nicely over the last several days after a sharp selloff due to rising interest rates. The commodities are quiet this morning. Freeport McMoran and Cliffs Natural Resources are up about a percent. The oil drillers are modestly higher. Halliburton is higher on an upgrade. After the first half an hour the Dow fell 30 points while the Nasdaq remained in the green. A quiet start to this option expiration day. Through the morning and into the afternoon the Nasdaq not only remained in the green, but actually trading to a new high for the year. Through the morning and into the last hour the averages went nowhere. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 7 points at 11,491, but gained 0.7% for the week. The S&P 500 inched up a point to 1,243, gaining 0.3% for the week. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 5 points to 2,642, up 0.2% for the week. The S&P 500 and Dow have risen for three straight weeks. The Nasdaq is up four straight weeks.

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