Day Traders Diary
11/16/09
U.S. stocks opened higher on Monday, with energy shares fronting the gains, after the Commerce Department reported retail sales rebounded in October, lifted mostly by auto sales. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 59 points to 10,329. The S&P 500 Index rose 8 points to 1,102. The Nasdaq Composite rose 11 points to 2,179. The U.S. dollar keeps declining causing oil, gold, and the markets to push higher. The retailers in general are performing well. Dicks, Abercrombie & Fitch, Sears, Radio Shack, Nordstrom, and Coach are all up at least 3% following upgrades. Lowes is modestly higher following earnings. JC Penney is modestly lower on a downgrade. The financials in general are performing well. Citigroup is up 4% on news hedge fund manager Paulson raised his stake in the financial titan. The Canadian banks are perfrom well thanks to upgrades. The tech titans like Google and Apple keep pushing higher. Dell is higher on an upgrade. Intel is higher after raising their dividend. RF Micro Devices is higher after raising their cash flow numbers. Cisco is modestly higher after raising their bid for a European company called Tandberg. The commodity space continues to perform well. U.S. Steel and AK Steel are both jumping 5% thanks to upgrades. ExxonMobil is up 3% following a positive cover piece in Barrons. After the first hour the Dow was up 130 points to new highs for the year above 10400. The Nasdaq rose 28 points to new highs for the year. The S&P 500 is also at new highs for the year. Through the morning and into the afternoon the averages remained strong near the highs of the day. Light volume once again. Gold closed at a new high today while oil is jumping $3. In the last hour, bearish comments from Meredith Whitney regarding the banks sent the financials lower. The major averages pulled back a little, but remained strong. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 139 points, or 1.3%, to close at 10,406, its highest close since Oct. 2, 2008. The S&P 500 index gained 15 points, or 1.5%, to close at 1,109, marking its first close above the key 1,100 level since October of last year. The Nasdaq Composite rose 29 points, or 1.4%, to close at 2,197, its highest close since Sept. 19, 2008.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.