Paul Shread

A rocky couple of days for stocks, with a complete round trip back to Friday’s levels and then some. The Nasdaq (first chart below) faces resistance at 2165, 2175 and 2190-2200, and support is 2150 and 2130-2137. We should note that the Nasdaq continues to lag the NYSE (second chart), a general market concern here. […]

Tech stocks led the market lower on Wednesday, as inquiries into the timing of stock option grants continued to hit the sector. Marvell , Maxim and Zoran fell on news of inquiries into their stock option grant practices, while Quest Software said it will restate past results after an investigation into its stock option practices. […]

The major stock market indexes didn’t move much on Friday, but a number of tech stocks made big moves. RSA had its second straight 18% gain after EMC paid more than expected to acquire the security company. EMC shares lost 2.5% on the day, but that was more than 8% off their lows. CSC plunged […]

When EMC decides to move into a market, it doesn’t fool around. The acquisitive storage giant announced late Thursday that it will acquire RSA Security for about $2.1 billion, just hours after news broke that EMC and at least one other bidder were in negotiations to buy RSA for at least $1.8 billion. EMC has […]

There’s no arguing with momentum, and for the moment at least, it continues to be pointed higher. Certainly sentiment supports the bulls, and even commercial futures traders have reduced their S&P short positions in recent weeks. The one reason for caution is that the cycles remain negative for the next few months, so a retest […]

Stocks posted their biggest point gains in three years Thursday after the Federal Reserve raised hopes that it may soon be done raising interest rates. The Fed raised interest rates a quarter point, the 17th rate hike in its two-year campaign to fight inflation, said that growth is moderating, and suggested that further rate increases […]

The Nasdaq and Dow (first two charts below) held important support levels today. The Nasdaq turned higher after testing 2090, the top of its first wave up off the recent lows. 2100, 2090 and 2065 are support, and 2125 and 2150 are resistance. The Dow held its 200-day average just above 10,900, which remains support […]

Micron reported mixed results after the close Wednesday, beating earnings estimates but missing sales estimates. Micron reported quarterly earnings of $89 million, or 12 cents a share, reversing a year-ago loss and beating estimates by two cents. But sales of $1.31 billion were below $1.37 billion forecasts. Margins posted a 6-point sequential gain to 25% […]

The IBM-led Aperi storage management effort showed that reports of its demise were greatly exaggerated, with an announcement Wednesday that it will join the open source Eclipse Foundation and donate millions of lines of code. Last week’s announcement by Sun, EMC, HP, HDS and Symantec that they would focus their storage management efforts on the […]

A brief breakout by the Nasdaq (first chart below) turned out to be an opportunity for sellers, who sent the index back below a couple of support levels. Support is now 2090 and 2065, and resistance is 2120-2125 and 2150. The S&P (second chart) stopped right at its downtrend line today. Next support levels are […]

The Nasdaq led a sharp decline in the stock market Tuesday, as traders grew nervous ahead of the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates Thursday. Traders fretted that the Fed may boost interest rates by as much as 50 basis points to combat inflation, while a 7% decline in GM weighed on the Dow. Still, […]

The bulls continue to push some big resistance levels here. The Nasdaq (first chart below) is challenging its main downtrend line. 2150 is the next resistance level, and support is 2125 and 2120. The S&P (second chart) faces important resistance at 1255 and 1262, and 1244 is an important first support level. The Dow (third […]