Day Traders Diary

5/3/11

U.S. stocks started Tuesday's session with minor losses, following a couple disappointing corporate earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 7 points to 12,800, led by a 2% drop in shares of Pfizer after the drug company reported earnings. The S&P 500 fell 2 points to 1,358 with energy and materials sectors leading losses. The Nasdaq Composite dipped 3 points to 2,861. To the downside we have Sears dropping 8% after lowering guidance. Texas Roadhouse, ADP, McCormick & Schmick, Mylan, Clorox, Gaylord Entertainment, and Molson Coors are all lower following earnings. The commodity sector is taking a hit. Spectra Energy, Emerson Electric, Rowan, Marathon Oil, Apache, and Suncor Energy are all lower following earnings. Arch Coal and Patriot Coal received upgrades, but both are lower. Duke Energy is modestly higher following earnings. The rare earth stocks are on fire. Molycorp is jumping 8% on an upgrade. The averages are weak, but the financials are acting well. Mastercard is up 3% on earnings. Ares Capital is up 2% on earnings. Bank of America is higher by 2% on positive analyst comments. Hartford jumped last night on their earnings report, but is unchanged now. Legg Mason and National Financial Partners are down 5% following earnings. Beazer Homes is down 3% on earnings. The housing sector isn't improving at all. In the tech space only a few select stocks are higher. Apple, Intel, and IBM look good and that's about it. After the first hour the averages remain in the red, but not by much. Through the morning the high flying techs and commodities remain weak , but everything else improved. The Dow rallied into the green led by financials, Alcoa, IBM, and Intel. Automaker GM is up 2% on an upgrade and better than expected April sales. In the afternoon the averages moved lower once again with the Dow and Nasdaq declining 30 points. The financials and a select number of techs remain in the green. In the last hour the Dow rallied while the Nasdaq remained depressed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished unchanged at 12,807. Alcoa led percentage gainers, rising 2.6%. Pfizer shares led decliners, falling 2.8%. The S&P 500 fell 4 points to 1,356, led by a 2.4% drop in energy stocks. The Nasdaq Composite lost 22 points to 2,841 points.

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