Day Traders Diary
5/14/12
U.S. stocks opened sharply lower Monday as investors worried about Greece's potential exit from the euro zone and rising Spanish and Italian bond yields. "The cost of insuring against a Spanish default is now more expensive than for Hungary," emailed Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 101 points to 12,719. The S&P 500 Index lost 12 points to 1,341. The Nasdaq Composite retreated 24 points to 2,090. Very little corporate news so investors are focused on Europe. The Asian markets aren't doing much better. China cut rates over the weekend which is long term bullish, but short term emphasizes the fact that global economies are slowly down. A good barometer for the slowing economies is the weakness in the energy , materials, and industrial space. The price of commodities keep pushing lower. Silver Wheaton is down 5% on earnings. Arch Coal down 45% for the year, but is modestly higher this morning on an upgrade. Louisiana Pacific was upgraded as well, but is trading lower. Chesapeake Energy is higher by 6% after acquiring a $3 billion unsecured loan. The financials keep pushing lower following news last week of JP Morgan's $2 billion fiasco. Allstate is unchanged on an upgrade. The European banks are all trading down 2% to 3%. The techs seem to be holding up better than most sectors. Cisco Systems is higher after getting hit last week. Netsuite is higher by 4% on an upgrade. Google and Apple are modestly lower. Symantec is down 2% on a downgrade. In the retail space the diamond so far is Golfsmith up 28% after agreeing to be bought out this weekend. Avon is higher by 5% due to comments they will consider a takeover offer. Dicks is lower on an upgrade. Disney's Avenger movie had another blockbuster weekend, but the stock is modestly lower. Through the first hour the averages remained weak trading right around support levels. The Dow fell as much as 150 points while the Nasdaq declined 30 points before recovering later in the morning. In the afternoon the Dow recovered half of its losses with strength in the healthcare and utility space. The transports are also performing well. The Nasdaq is recovering led by Google, Cisco, and Yahoo. Yahoo is higher on news their CEO is stepping down opening the door to more speculation of a takeover. Coming later this week, Facebook will be coming public. In the last hour the averages moved back toward the lows as the US dollar rose once again. I guess the bulls are in hibernation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 125 points, or 1%, to 12,695, the eighth drop in nine sessions and the lowest close since Jan. 31. The S&P 500 fell 15 points, or 1.1%, to 1,338, the lowest since Feb. 2. The Nasdaq Composite fell 31 points, or 1.1%, to 2,902.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.