Paul Shread

Managing and protecting the explosive growth of corporate data was a common theme at this week’s Storage Networking World, with vendors large and small showcasing their data protection and management solutions. IBM unveiled a number of new offerings, adding to its enterprise line of disk arrays, including a new flexible warranty option, and also unveiling […]

The Nasdaq (first chart below) closed just below its main uptrend line today, a negative for the market. The next support levels are 2330, 2323-2325 and 2290-2300. To regain that broken support, the index needs to get back above 2340, with 2350 the next resistance point above that. On one hand, the move down feels […]

A weaker than expected national manufacturing report exacerbated slowdown fears on Wednesday, sending blue chip stocks lower for a fourth day. The Nasdaq led the way this time, shedding 1.4% after the national ISM manufacturing survey came in at 51.2%, still growing, but below 53% estimates. The report overshadowed an ADP employment report that suggested […]

So far, sellers haven’t put much of a dent in the market, with the indexes still quite some distance from major support levels, and first-of-the-month inflows and strong seasonality should provide additional support going forward. Sentiment remains a mixed picture, with some advisory surveys showing a little excess, but options indicators still quite restrained. Still, […]

More evidence of a slowing economy restrained blue chip stocks on Tuesday, but technology shares managed modest gains on earnings and upgrades. Dell surged 4% on its second upgrade in two days, this one from UBS, which cited improving pricing. InterActiveCorp rose 4% on an 11% gain in sales, and Rackable Systems , Agere and […]

The Dow and S&P (first two charts below) are threatening their September uptrend lines here; a pullback to the main trendlines at 11,900 and 1358 could be in the cards if the big caps go much lower. First support levels on the Dow are 12,050 and 12,000, and 1373 and 1365 on the S&P. To […]

Tech stocks posted solid gains Monday on analyst upgrades of HP , Dell and Yahoo . Dell and HP climbed about 1% each after Citigroup said the companies are unlikely to be affected by falling motherboard demand, which hit chip shares Friday on a report by Goldman Sachs. HP and Dell will report quarterly results […]

Every now and then the market needs to remind traders that there’s risk in investing, and this market was certainly long overdue. That said, it’s unlikely that the first pullback off a straight-shot run-up will turn out be a top of significance, so more upside is likely once this pullback is over. Still, we all […]

News that the economy slowed to just a 1.6% growth rate in the third quarter overshadowed solid results from Microsoft and Sun and sent stocks skidding on Friday. It was the weakest quarter for the U.S. economy since early 2003, and well below the 2.1% growth rate economists were looking for. Investment in equipment and […]

The Nasdaq (first two charts below) became the latest index to erase its summer swoon, in the process eliminating a negative divergence that was threatening to undo the rally. 2390-2400 and 2420-2425 are up next for the index, and support is 2375, 2358 and 2350. The S&P (third and fourth charts) is pushing through resistance […]

Microsoft and Sun delivered quarterly results late Thursday that weren’t quite everything Wall Street analysts were looking for, but shares of both companies fared well under the circumstances. Microsoft’s September quarter sales rose 11% to $10.81 billion, beating $10.75 billion estimates, and earnings of 35 cents a share were four cents better than anticipated. But […]

Right on cue, the Nasdaq (first chart below) turned it on today, removing one concern for the market. Still, the index remains range-bound and must take out 2360 and 2375 to the upside. Support on the techs is 2343, 2325 and 2315. The S&P (second and third charts) faces major resistance at 1382-1389; if the […]