Paul Shread

Investors spooked by weak technology earnings and inflation fears will have plenty to consider this week. With earnings reports from HP , Applied Materials and Dell , and wholesale and retail inflation reports, this week could turn out to be a pivotal one for the stock market. HP will report its results after the close […]

MIT on Monday announced plans for a petabyte-scale IP storage system that can be “managed by a few graduate students,” in the words of MIT Media Lab Director Frank Moss. The system, based on Zetera’s Z-SAN technology in collaboration with Bell Micro, Marvell and Seagate, will be used for the lab’s “Human Speechome Project” to […]

The Nasdaq (first chart below) ended the week right at the critical support level of 2240-2245, although the index could go as low as 2232 and stay generally within that old consolidation. Due to the index’s freefall this week, 2300 looks like the first major resistance level, although 2275 would be a good start. For […]

A steep plunge in consumer sentiment and rising interest rates kept the stock market under pressure on Friday, with the Nasdaq losing more than 4% on the week. A one-month decline in the Michigan consumer sentiment survey from 87.4 to 79 showed rising energy prices taking a toll, and treasury yields continue their climb to […]

The biggest question about today is whether the heavy selling marks a short-term reaction to the Fed or the start of a bigger correction. We’re going to watch the Nasdaq (first chart below) for clues on that one. 2240-2245 is critical support on the Nasdaq, and 2300 looks like important resistance on the weekly chart. […]

Weak earnings reports from a number of big-name technology companies finally took its toll on the stock market Thursday, and rising commodity and energy prices sent the broader market to its biggest one-day decline since January. Disappointing results in recent weeks from the likes of Intel , Dell , Microsoft and Cisco have kept the […]

No change in the picture today. The Dow (first chart below) continues to lead but is overbought near its all-time high of 11,722-11,750, the NYSE advance-decline line (second chart) remains stuck, and the Nasdaq (third chart) is stuck in a downtrend. So far, bulls can count their lucky stars that the market’s weak underpinnings haven’t […]

Cisco Systems kept tech stocks under pressure Wednesday after delivering sales guidance that left room for disappointment. Cisco reported solid growth in its April quarter, handily beating Wall Street estimates. But the company’s June quarter sales could come in below forecasts, showing that the networking giant isn’t completely immune from a slowdown that has hit […]

As the Dow (first chart below) nears its all-time high of 11,722-11,750, the NYSE advance-decline line (second chart) remains stuck and the Nasdaq (third chart) is faring even worse. How long can a rally this selective last? One negative in that Dow chart is that -DI, or selling pressure, has completely dried up. When we […]

Cisco Systems delivered better than expected earnings and sales after the close on Tuesday, but the company’s forward guidance left some a little disappointed. Cisco’s April quarter sales grew 18% to $7.32 billion, helped in part by $407 million in revenues from newly acquired Scientific-Atlanta, beating $7.17 billion estimates. Non-GAAP earnings of 29 cents a […]

Packeteer made a play for supremacy in the emerging WAN optimization and wide area file services (WAFS) market on Tuesday by acquiring Tacit Networks for $78 million in cash. Packeteer, which already leads the WAN optimization market, adds WAFS to its remote management product arsenal with the acquisition of Tacit — along with Tacit’s OEM […]

A pause before big news from Cisco and the Fed the next two days. The Dow (first chart below) faces major resistance at 11,722-11,750, the index’s all-time closing and intraday highs. Support is 11,490-11,500 and 11,426. The NYSE advance-decline (second chart) also paused today; can it get the small boost it needs for a new […]