Day Traders Diary

3/12/24

The major averages closed higher even as the latest inflation report was a little hotter than expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 235 points after opening lower. The S&P 500 rose 57 points or 1%. The Nasdaq rose 246 points or 1.5%.

The consumer price index climbed 0.4% in February and 3.2% year over year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Tuesday. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a 0.4% increase last month and 3.1% year-over-year, respectively. Core inflation, which strips out food and energy from the headline reading, climbed 0.4% in February, compared to a forecast gain of 0.3%.

U.S. Treasury yields were slightly higher on the news, but not affecting the major averages. Investors now turn their attention to the producer price index report due out later this week and the Fed's next monetary policy meeting later this month.

Technology stocks resumed their rally following better than expected earnings from Oracle. Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia, IBM and Amazon were all higher by 2% or more. Oracle was the diamond up 11% thanks to strong demand for its cloud services that was in part powered by growing interest in AI.

The dog of the day goes to Boeing down 4% to new lows for the year as deliveries have been slow, the FAA audit of Boeing found more planes that failed inspections and finally a whistleblower that used to work at Boeing was found dead of apparent suicide.

Bitcoin took a pause today after being on a tear, now up 64% year to date and more than 100% over the last six months.