Paul Shread

An unexpected upward revision to third-quarter economic growth eased slowdown fears Wednesday and sent stocks surging higher. News that the economy grew 2.2% in the third quarter, revised from an initial reading of 1.6%, and an improving picture in the Fed’s Beige Book economic survey gave investors a reason to buy. Analyst upgrades to Intel […]

Solid internals today, which could provide a foundation for more upside, and with first-of-the-month inflows coming in soon, the market could soon find support. The charts have taken a beating, but a market that’s been as strong as this one may have some surprises left in it. Options indicators haven’t turned bearish as quickly as […]

Stocks rebounded modestly Tuesday, as investors found just enough to like in the day’s economic news to bid stocks higher. Stocks started the day lower on a steep drop in durable orders that was led by falling computer, communications equipment and transportation orders, but better than expected existing home sales and soothing comments on the […]

Symantec has quietly picked up the assets of continuous data protection (CDP) startup Revivio. Symantec said in a statement that it has acquired “substantially all of the intellectual property of Revivio” and has offered jobs to the startup’s core engineering team. Symantec launched a “near-CDP” offering a year ago, but Revivio’s technology will allow it […]

Major breakdowns across the board today, which suggests that the market’s multi-month rally may be done for now. The next important supports are the Dow and S&P’s lows earlier this month; below that and the odds increase that we’ve begun a significant correction. To the upside, those broken trendlines are now the levels to beat: […]

Weaker than expected sales at Wal-Mart sent stocks skidding on Monday, as investors wondered if the holiday shopping season will turn out to be a turkey. Shares of Amazon and eBay followed Wal-Mart lower despite reports of strong online sales, as investors may have been looking for more there too. Traders will get a clearer […]

Tech stocks posted modest gains in pre-holiday trade Wednesday, thanks to surprisingly strong earnings from Dell . Dell shares soared nearly 10% after the company’s results cheered investors after several missteps and warnings over the last year. But the broader market was mixed after a weaker than expected consumer sentiment reading raised concerns heading into […]

Looking at the action in the market since early November, we have a rally followed by a decline followed by another rally and now a sideways consolidation — that sounds very much like four waves of a five-wave Elliott wave up move, with the final wave up on deck. That suggests one more move up […]

Dell shares soared in after-hours trading Tuesday after the company posted quarterly earnings that were well ahead of Wall Street estimates. Dell’s earnings of 39 cents a share were down 9 cents from the year ago quarter, but 6 cents better than analysts were expecting, a hopeful sign that the company’s pricing power has stabilized. […]

Stocks are taking a bit of a breather here, but with the days around Thanksgiving usually pretty positive for stocks, it may not last much longer. Still, since the indexes spent the afternoon hovering near their lows, we may see some more downside in the morning. The S&P (first chart below) has support at 1395 […]

A Microsoft upgrade and strength in the chip sector helped tech stocks post modest gains on Monday. Credit Suisse upgraded Microsoft to outperform from neutral on the software giant’s digital entertainment and business software prospects. Microsoft shares gained 1.7% to a new 52-week high on the news. Chip stocks were strong, with Broadcom and Novellus […]

Another narrow rally today, with a steep drop in new highs, and commercial futures traders continue to short the big S&P contract. If we start seeing options traders throw caution to the wind, the advantage could tip toward the bears. The S&P (first chart below) finally edged above 1400 today. 1414-1426 is the next big […]