Paul Shread

Analysts expect 2005 to be a banner year for storage vendors, thanks in part to data protection and retention regulations. Analysts from Robert W. Baird and Info-Tech Research Group released reports today detailing expectations for strong storage spending this year. The Baird analysts — Daniel Renouard, Frank Timons and Joel Inman — released a survey […]

Not a bad start — the indexes all took out some pretty significant resistance today. The Nasdaq (first chart) took out its downtrend from earlier this month. The index still faces some major resistance ahead — notably 2008, 2023 and 2040 — but it has to start somewhere. Support should now be 1990-1993. The Dow […]

Solid results from Micron Technology and falling oil prices and bond yields sent stocks to their biggest gains of the year on Wednesday. Micron gained 3.6%, sending the chip sector 2.3% higher, after the company reversed a year-ago loss with earnings of 17 cents a share, beating Wall Street estimates. The company made up for […]

The set-up isn’t pretty, with the major indexes completing “falling three methods” bearish continuation patterns today, but at least the Dow and S&P (first two charts below) are approaching their January lows, where they could find support. The Dow has major support at 10,368-10,376, while 10,534 appears to be the level to beat to the […]

Micron Technology capped another rough day on Wall Street Tuesday with better than expected results after the close. Micron earned 17 cents a share in the quarter on $1.31 billion in revenues, reversing a year-ago loss and beating analysts’ estimates of 14-cent earnings and $1.22 billion in sales. Lower average selling prices hit gross margins, […]

IT executives faced with the need for “more and more storage” are turning to other strategies to control rising storage demands, according to a new report from Summit Strategies. “Instead of constantly investing in new storage equipment, IT executives are now focusing on getting maximum use out of the equipment already in-house,” analyst Joe Clabby […]

Three straight days that fail to take out a large down day is rarely a good sign, which is the set-up we have since last week’s Federal Reserve-inspired sell-off. Once again, the one hope is that end-of-the month inflows could help support the market. Another down day would set up a “falling three methods” bearish […]

There are a few days left in the quarter still, but Goldman Sachs is already saying it expects strong numbers from Yahoo and Google when they report quarterly results in a few weeks. Goldman analyst Anthony Noto upped his estimates on Yahoo and maintained his bullish forecast on Google. His estimates for both companies are […]

Yahoo said Thursday it will spend $3 billion over the next five years buying back its stock. With $4.6 billion in cash on hand, the buyback plan is a significant commitment by Yahoo. It replaces the company’s previous $500 million plan announced four years ago. “This stock repurchase program demonstrates the confidence we have in […]

Microsoft plans to release version 2.0 of its iSCSI initiator next month, and the software giant has added features that could make Windows-based IP storage more attractive for high-end users. Microsoft announced this week that version 2.0 of the Microsoft Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) Software Initiator is ready to be released to manufacturing […]

Not a bad day under the circumstances — stocks were little changed despite bad news on the inflation front. The Nasdaq (first chart below) formed a bullish inverted hammer today, trying once again to carve out support near its 200-day moving average. The next major support levels are 1970 and 1940-1950, and resistance is 1993, […]

Applied Materials came to the rescue of the beaten-down tech sector Wednesday when the company announced a big stock buyback and its first dividend. AMAT shares rose 2.5% after the chip equipment giant announced a $4 billion stock buyback plan, up $1 billion over the company’s previous plan. AMAT also announced its first dividend of […]