Day Traders Diary
5/4/09
U.S. stocks opened broadly higher on Monday, with investors taking a positive stance on financial firms, looking beyond worries about banks that have undergone government-administered "stress tests". The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 80 points, or 1%, to 8,294. The S&P 500 gained 9 points, or 1%, to 887, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 16 points, or 1%, to 1,735. Most of the financials are higher. Citigroup is trading up 5% even though several news sources indicate the bank needs to raised at least $10 billion in fresh capital to pass the stress test. Bank of America is also up 5% even though they probably will need to raise fresh capital as well. Wells Fargo and US Bancorp are higher thanks to positive comments from shareholder, Warren Buffett. CNA Financial is up 9% after beating estimates by 18 cents. Loews, which owns a majority stake in CNA, is up 5% even though they reported a quarterly loss. Other companies reporting earnings this morning include Sysco Foods, Tyson Foods, Estee Lauder, Sprint/Nextel, and Chesapeake Utility. Only Sysco is lower. The tech sector is performing well this morning. Intel is up 5% on an upgrade. Google is inching closer to $400 a share once again. IBM is performing great, trading up to $106 a share. Research in Motion is up 3% as the company commences its analyst day. One of the few techs trading lower is Adobe, down 4% on a downgrade. At 10 o'clock, better than expected housing data sent the Dow up over 150 points. The Nasdaq rose 26 points. So far so good. After the first hour, the Dow remained strong, up 170 points. The Nasdaq rose 30 points. Through the morning the averages remained strong. The financials are performing great. In the afternoon, rumors broke that regulators asked Wells Fargo to raise fresh capital. The stock pulled back, then rallied to new highs jumping 14%. Bank of America is up 10%. The strength of the financials are leading the broader averages higher. The Dow rose as much as 200 points. The Nasdaq rose 33 points. In the last hour, the averages moved higher thanks to the financials. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 214 points, or 2.6%, to end at 8,426. The S&P 500 index gained 29 points, or 3.4%, to close at 907, a four-month high. The S&P is now positive for the year. The Nasdaq Composite gained 44 points, or 2.6%, to end at 1,763. The technology-heavy index is now up 11.8% for 2009.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.