Day Traders Diary

4/25/24

The major averages took a hit today following a slew of earnings and the latest U.S. economic data showing a sharp slowdown in growth while inflation remains persistent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 375 points after falling 700 points during the morning hours. The S&P 500 fell 23 points or 0.46% while the Nasdaq fell 100 points or 0.64%.

U.S. gross domestic product expanded 1.6% in the first quarter as reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Economists polled by Dow Jones forecast GDP growth would come in at 2.4%. The report also showed consumer prices increased at a 3.4% pace, well above the previous quarter's 1.8% advance. The 10-year Treasury yield broke above 4.7% following the GDP report, hitting its highest level since November. The 2-year Treasury yield rose 6 basis points to 4.99%.

Besides higher interest rates a number of stocks reported earnings last night and this morning. In the tech space, Meta fell 10% while IBM fell 8%. Other stocks down following earnings included Caterpillar, Whirlpool, Comcast, Service Now, Ford, American Airlines, Southwest, Dow Chemical and Bristol Myers.

A few stocks were higher on earnings including Lam Research, Chipotle, Newmont Mining and Northrop Gruman.

Oil, gold and Bitcoin opened lower, but then rebounded into the green in the afternoon.

With a down day today, the major averages have given up most of the gains for the week after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq snapped a six day losing streak on Monday.