Day Traders Diary

9/4/20

The major averages closed lower for a second day on Friday after a wild session as money came out of tech stocks once again into names that will benefit from the economy reopening. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 159 points lower, or 0.6%, at 28,133. At one point, the 30-stock average fell as much as 628.05 points, or 2.2%. The Dow was also higher for a moment on Friday.

The S&P 500 slid 0.8% to 3,426, but closed well off its session low. The broader-market index was down 3.1% at its session low and briefly traded positive on the day. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.3% to 11,313, but also closed well above its low of the day.

Boeing shares rose more than 1% while bank stocks gained broadly. JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup were up 2.2% and 2%, respectively. Bank of America climbed 3.4%. Wells Fargo advanced 1.1%. Cruise operator Carnival climbed 5.4% and United Airlines advanced 2.2%.

Shares of major tech companies closed mostly lower. Facebook, Amazon and Alphabet all lost more than 2%. Netflix slid 1.8% and Microsoft dropped 1.4%. However, Apple ended the day up 0.1% after falling as much as 8.3%. Tesla also erased a drop of more than 8%, ended the session up 2.8%.

The S&P 500 tech sector fell more than 1% a day after its worst session since March. For the week, the sector fell more than 4%. Tech's sell-off came after the space drove the lion's share of the broader market's comeback off the coronavirus lows.

Japan's SoftBank reportedly bought billions of dollars in individual stock options in big tech companies over the past month, driving up volumes and contributing to a trading frenzy. The heightened options trading activity was credited by many analysts for adding froth to the stock market.

Tech's decline this week led the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to snap their respective five-week winning streaks. The S&P 500 fell 1.8% this week and the Nasdaq declined by 3.7%. The Dow fell 2.3% this week.

The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 8.4% last month from 10.2% in July, the Labor Department said. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected the rate to decline to 9.8%. As for overall jobs creation, employment in the U.S. grew by 1.37 million in August, topping an estimate of 1.32 million.

While the pace of hiring activity slowed down from the prior three months, it remained on the right path. Some optimism about the growth outlook was manifested in the Treasury market where selling in longer-dated maturities fostered some curve-steepening activity, which was an added boost for bank stocks.

The 2-yr yield increased four basis points to 0.16%, while the 10-yr yield rose ten basis points to 0.72%. The U.S. Dollar Index increased 0.1% to 92.79. WTI crude futures fell 4.0%, or $1.64, to $39.70/bbl. The CBOE Volatility Index fell 8.5% to 30.75, as the rebound in equities tamed hedging interest.