Paul Shread

Heavy volume in puts today. If stock market bulls see any bright spots in tomorrow’s CPI report, they have all the fuel they need for a rally right there. The one persistent negative here is rising bond yields (first chart below); let’s hope that downtrend line on the 10-year yield holds. The Nasdaq (second chart) […]

Stocks were mixed Thursday ahead of key inflation data on Friday and major earnings reports next week. Friday’s consumer price index (CPI) is expected to clock in at about a 1% gain for September, due largely to spiking energy prices from Gulf Coast hurricanes. But the core rate — which excludes food and energy prices […]

The Nasdaq (first chart below) slipped below the critical 2040-2050 support zone today. Below 2030, that gap at 2004-2008 could be the next target. On the plus side, puts continue to pile up; with options expiry next week, those could provide fuel for a bounce if the bulls can ever get things going. It’s surprising […]

Disappointing results from Apple and questions about AMD’s results sent the Nasdaq to its lowest close in five months on Wednesday. Both AMD and Apple posted solid results late Tuesday, but Apple shares slid 4.5% on disappointing iPod sales. AMD lost 12% despite blow-out results, as investors fretted about the company’s margins and valuation. The […]

Network Appliance is moving into information classification and management (ICM), thanks to an OEM deal with Kazeon. Under the terms of the OEM, development, and marketing agreement, Kazeon and NetApp will integrate the intelligent data classification and search capabilities of Kazeon’s Information Server with NetApp’s storage systems, and NetApp will resell Kazeon’s Information Server as […]

A big test coming tomorrow for the Nasdaq (first chart below), which could hit the critical 2040-2050 support zone tomorrow. The index is very oversold and puts are piling up; can we finally get a turn around here? To the upside, key levels are 2075, 2080, 2093, 2100, 2106 and 2110-2112. The S&P (second chart) […]

AMD posted blow-out quarterly results after the close on Tuesday, but shares of Apple slid 10% after the company missed sales estimates. AMD’s earnings of 18 cents a share beat estimates by a dime, and revenues of $1.52 billion were 10% better than analysts expected. “This was another record-breaking quarter for AMD’s microprocessor business,” AMD […]

Looking over the week’s news, it’s hard to imagine a catalyst for the bulls other than bearish sentiment and oversold charts. Friday’s CPI report is likely to be the worst in 15 years due to rising energy costs, and other than Apple and AMD tomorrow night, there isn’t much in the way of earnings reports […]

Dell and IBM rose on positive analyst comments Monday, but the broader market fell on bankruptcy and earnings worries. IBM climbed about 1% after Citigroup upgraded the stock from hold to buy on expectations of strong server and service sales. IBM reports third-quarter earnings on Oct. 17. Dell was upgraded to strong buy by Needham, […]

Storage virtualization is widely viewed as lagging server virtualization, but IBM sees that trend changing fast. Big Blue already boasts more than 1,400 storage virtualization customers — and that number is up a stunning 40% since May. That growth is also occurring across all market segments — more than 800 of those customers are small […]

Admittedly not the prettiest of days, with rallies that didn’t get very far, but there is one small hopeful sign on the Nasdaq (first chart below) — a bullish harami cross, or a small candlestick within a large red candlestick. The major indexes all finished with inside days — trading ranges completely within the previous […]

Accenture climbed nearly 6% Friday after reporting quarterly results that topped Wall Street forecasts, but Research In Motion slumped on an adverse court ruling. Accenture’s profit leapt more than 25% to 38 cents a share, beating analysts’ estimates by two cents. Revenues of $3.92 billion also bested forecasts, and the company predicted 13-17% earnings growth […]