Day Traders Diary

3/30/23

The major averages rose once again as investors bet the worst of the regional bank crisis has passed. The S&P 500 rose 23 points or 0.57%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 141 points or 0.43% while the Nasdaq Composite rose 87 points or 0.73%.

The Cboe Volatility Index, Wall Street's preferred measure of how turbulent the S&P 500 will be over the next 30 days, pulled back to the 19 level after reaching 30 in the middle of March. Wall Street's fear gauge is back to where it was when the month began.

Weekly jobless claims increased by 7,000 to 198,000, adding to hopes that the Federal Reserve could slow down its tightening campaign because the labor market is cooling.

Chip stocks such as AMD were among the market's best performers. The VanEck Vector Semiconductor ETF (SMH) climbed 1.4% on Thursday, bringing its year-to-date gain to more than 28%.

Also in tech, shares of Amazon and Apple were higher.

For the month, the Nasdaq Composite is up more than 4%. The S&P 500 has gained 2% as investors shook off the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and yet another rate increase from the Fed.