Day Traders Diary

04/05/2012

U.S. stocks opened lower Thursday, following yesterdays declines which included the worst session of the year for the Nasdaq. The fall came as a decline in Spanish bond yields furthered worries about Europe's ability to stem its debt crisis. China was the lone stand out this morning, rallying nearly 2% following their better than expected PMI number earlier in the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 59 points to 13,015. The S&P 500 shed 5 points to 1,393. The Nasdaq Composite lost 6 points to 3,061. Limited news to end this abbreviated week. The retail sector is in the news reporting same store sales however, most stocks are muted after a nice run up. TJX is up 3% on their sales report. Ross Stores and Gap are also modestly higher. Macys is modestly lower. Panera Bread is higher on an upgrade. CarMax is down 2% on earnings. Pier 1 is unchanged on earnings. Ruby Tuesday is down 12% on earnings while Bed Bath & Beyond is the diamond of the day up 8% on strong earnings.The financials are modestly lower. Visa, MasterCard, and Western Union are bucking the trend up a percent on upgrades. The techs are under pressure as well. Even Apple can't seem to get going. Telecom equipment maker, Polycom is the dog of the day down 18% after lowering guidance. Through the first hour the averages firmed up led by the material and energy sectors. However, the rally is muted. After the first hour the Dow remained down, but by just 20 points. The Nasdaq is only down a point. Tomorrow is the monthly unemployment number however the market is closed until Monday. Goldman Sachs raised their estimate for new jobs to 200,000 ahead of the news. Through the morning the averages crept into the green in a slow motion rally. Nothing is really standing out including Apple.

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