Paul Shread

Stocks soared Tuesday on falling oil prices and optimism about the tech sector. Tech stocks surged on upgrades and optimism ahead of major announcements by Apple , Intel and Texas Instruments later this week, and the broader market rallied as international efforts brought down oil prices and traders speculated that the Federal Reserve may halt […]

LeftHand Networks has closed on a $25 million third round of funding, bring the iSCSI SAN vendor’s haul to $75 million to date. Valhalla Partners led the round, with new participation from JPMorgan Chase and funding from all previous investors. LeftHand said it will use the money to expand global sales and support for IP […]

Stocks slipped in midday trading Friday on news that the U.S. added fewer jobs than expected in August and wage growth was anemic. The Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy generated 169,000 new jobs last month, below economists’ estimates of 190,000, but July jobs growth was revised upward. Wages grew just 0.1%, below 0.3% […]

Dell posted the strongest growth among the major storage vendors in the second quarter, growing at twice the rate of its biggest competitors, according to IDC’s Worldwide Disk Storage Systems Tracker. HP and IBM also posted strong growth in the second quarter, while EMC found itself in the unusual position of barely outgrowing the market. […]

First-of-the-month inflows weren’t enough to keep the rally going today. The S&P (first chart below) challenged its old April uptrend line today before failing, but at least the index held yesterday’s breakout as support. Support is 1220 and 1214-1216, and resistance is 1225-1227. The Nasdaq (second chart) held its 50-day average today. Support is 2142, […]

Ciena and JDS Uniphase showed on Thursday that it’s still hard to make money in the telecom equipment market. Ciena posted a third-quarter pro forma loss of $21.6 million, or 4 cents a share, and JDS lost $21.8 million, or 2 cents a share, after excluding restructuring and other charges. Those numbers were in line […]

The indexes turned up today, and with any luck, tomorrow’s first-of-the-month inflows will keep the rally going. The Nasdaq (first chart below) cleared its downtrend today. The next resistance levels are 2156 and 2174-2176, and 2140 and 2130 are important support levels. The S&P (second chart) also cleared its downtrend today, but faces another tough […]

The last week in August is typically a slow period for earnings reports, but a number of telecom and chip stocks are giving investors updates this week. Novellus lost 2.5% Wednesday after the chip equipment maker lowered its forecast below what Wall Street analysts were expecting. Fairchild Semi faired better, rising 6% after the company […]

Novellus capped a rough day on Wall Street Tuesday with a disappointing forecast after the close. Shares of the chip equipment maker fell 3% in after-hours trading after the company lowered order guidance to $285-$290 million, at the low end of the previous range, as bookings got pushed out to the fourth quarter. Earnings will […]

An impressive reversal today, with outside days and bullish engulfing patterns on the major indexes. The Nasdaq (first chart below) held the major support level of 2100-2106 with room to spare. 2112-2118 is important support, and resistance can be found at 2142-2144, 2150 and 2156. The S&P (second chart) held a secondary uptrend line today. […]

Stocks staged a dramatic reversal Monday after Hurricane Katrina appeared to do less damage than feared. However, it will take another day or two to assess the damage to oil production and other commodities, particularly on offshore oil rigs and pipelines where the worst of the storm struck. The Nasdaq led Monday’s reversal, ending the […]

Shares of Seagate fell 5% Friday on reports that Apple will introduce a flash memory-based iPod later this year. Analysts expect Apple to replace its 4GB hard drive-based iPod mini with a flash version with the same capacity. The deal could benefit Samsung, but hurt Apple hard-drive suppliers Seagate and Hitachi , analysts said. Morgan […]