Day Traders Diary
12/13/11
U.S. stocks opened higher on Tuesday, with sentiment lifted after a successful government debt auction in Spain and upbeat economic data from Germany. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 108 points to 12,129. Boeing looks good after hiking their dividend yesterday and an upgrade this morning. The S&P 500 Index advanced 10 points to 1,247. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 26 points to 2,639. One day down, the next day higher. That's the theme for the last several weeks. The news out of Europe has eased for a day allowing the financials to inch higher. Morgan Stanley announced a settlement with bond insurer MBIA for $1.8 billion. Both stocks are up 4%. Financial Engines is up 5% on an upgrade. Visa and MasterCard are higher on upgrades. The techs look pretty good except for Intel. Intel is modestly lower after preannouncing yesterday. Microsoft is higher however even though it was downgraded this morning. Google looks good up $10 breaking out of its' recent range. Apple is modestly higher. Through the first hour the averages accelerated on rumors of QE III talk from the Fed this afternoon. Noble Energy, Apache, Chesapeake Energy, Hess, and Marathon Oil are all higher on upgrades. DuPont is higher after reiterating 2012 guidance. After the first hour the rally began to fizzle. A number of financials fell into the red. The consumer discretionary sector is lower thanks in part to Best Buy. Best Buy is down 10% after missing earnings estimates. Panera Bread is lower even though it was upgraded this morning. Urban Outfitters is jumping 10% on better than expected sales data. Netflix is higher on an upgrade. Through the morning into the afternoon the averages crept higher anticipating good news out the Fed. The Fed, however, did nothing deflating the bull's case. Into the last hour the Nasdaq fell into the red and the Dow wilted as well. Most of the financials are in the red along with the materials and consumer discretionary. In the last hour the selling accelerated with the Dow dropping 100 points only to recover a little into the close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 66 points to 11,954, led by Alcoa and Caterpillar. The S&P 500 fell 10 points to 1,225, led by the consumer discretionary and natural-resource sectors. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 32 points, or 1.3%, to 2,579.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.