Day Traders Diary

8/19/10

U.S. stocks opened lower on Thursday after the Labor Department reported jobless claims rose unexpectedly last week, offsetting cheer that came with news that Intel was buying McAfee. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 38 points to 10,378. The S&P 500 declined 3 points to 1,090. The Nasdaq Composite shed 4 points to 2,211. Intel is trading down 2% while McAfee is jumping 57%. Rival, Symantec is up 6% in sympathy and on an upgrade. On the earnings front, Applied Materials and NetApp are up 2% on better than expected numbers. Brocade is down 4% on in line numbers. In the retail space Petsmart, Gymboree, Hot Topic, Childrens Place, Ross Stores, Toro, and Dollar Tree are higher following earnings. Retailers trading lower following earnings include Gamestop, Dicks, William Sonoma, Staples, Sears, Radio Shack, Bon Ton, Buckle, and 1-800 Flowers. After the first half an hour the averages dropped off a cliff thanks to weak manufacturing numbers. The Dow dropped over 130 points. The Nasdaq declined 24 points. Here we go again. Through the morning the averages remained weak. In the afternoon the Dow dropped 200 points before recovering a little bit. The Nasdaq declined 47 points before recovering a little bit. Google is lower today on its six year anniversary of going public. In the last hour the averages recovered a little bit, but not much. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 144 points, or 1.4%, at 10,271. Intel led a decline in all 30 components on the blue-chip average, with a drop of 3.5%. The S&P 500 fell 18 points, or 1.7%, to 1,075, with financials leading a decline in all 10 industry groups. The Nasdaq Composite fell 36 points, or 1.7%, to 2,178.

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