Day Traders Diary
04/09/2012
U.S. stocks opened sharply lower on Monday as investors got their first chance to react to the March nonfarm payrolls report, which had employers adding fewer jobs than expected. The U.S. Labor Department on Friday said American companies added 120,000 jobs last month, with the number under 200,000 for the first month in four. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 125 points to 12,934. The S&P 500 shed 15 points to 1,382. The Nasdaq Composite declined 38 points to 3,042. Every sector is trading lower this morning. The financials are weak following weakness overseas. Bank of America and Citigroup are lower by 2.5%. Barrons wrote a positive piece in Legg Mason, but it's not helping. The stock is down 3%. Aflac is lower by 2% on an upgrade. MasterCard was upgraded, but the stock is lower. The other leading sector, techs are succumbing to profit-taking. Intel, Google, and EMC were upgraded, but the stocks are lower. F5 Networks is lower by 3% on a downgrade. AOL is one of the few techs bucking the trend up 40% after agreeing to a patent deal with Microsoft that will give them a billion dollars in cash. Another stellar sector the retailers are under pressure. Ford is down 2% on a recall. Toyota, Dicks, Priceline, and Under Armour were all upgraded, but all four are lower. Sherwin Williams is higher by 2% after upping guidance. Not bad. The energy space is modestly lower, holding up better than other sectors. Rare Earth stock, Molycorp is higher by 6% on news of further reserve discoveries. Through the first hour the averages stayed close to the lows of the day. The weakness is causing gold to rally. Alcoa is modestly higher ahead of earnings tonight. Heading into the lunch hour the averages moved back toward the lows. One good sign is volume is light, but we ready do need some down days to even things out. During the lunch hour the averages put in a second rebound, this one with a little more sustainability into the afternoon. The afternoon rebound was led by techs and improving financials. In the last hour and into the close the averages moved back toward the lows. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 130 points, or 1%, to 12,929. The S&P 500 lost 15 points, or 1.1%, to 1,382. The Nasdaq Composite lost 33 points, or 1.1%, to 3,047.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.