Paul Shread

The blue chips are taking the lead now, with the S&P 500 (first chart below) back at its yearly high (1163.09). Also on the plus side for the blue chips, the NYSE strung together back-to-back 80% upside volume days for the first time since October 2002. That said, the market is very overbought here and […]

WebMD is considering spinning off its online unit, the company announced after the close on Thursday. “Based on the recommendations of the company’s outside advisers, WebMD has decided to take the steps necessary to sell approximately 10% of the equity of WebMD Health in an initial public offering,” the company said in a statement. WebMD […]

Acopia Networks has closed on a $25 million funding round, one of the largest for a storage start-up this year. The company’s third round of financing was led by new investor Goldman Sachs, with participation by previous investors Charles River Ventures, Accel Partners, STAR Ventures and Vesbridge Partners. Acopia has raised more than $65 million […]

With the presidential election decided, the focus now returns to earnings and the economy, which remain as mixed as the electorate. After the close on Wednesday, Qualcomm fell on a warning, while NetEase was unchanged after meeting estimates. Also after the close, EDS delayed its earnings report once again. Roxio beat estimates on strong Napster […]

Another day of uninspiring trading — it looks more and more like the bulls will be lucky to avoid a post-election correction. The Nasdaq (first chart below) stalled just above 2000 today. Resistance is 2000-2002 and 2025, and support is 1980, 1975, 1970, 1955 and 1945. The S&P 500 (second chart) stalled at 1140-1142 resistance, […]

A stock market rally gave way to selling Tuesday afternoon after a Web site published early exit poll data showing Democratic challenger John Kerry with a small lead in the key states of Florida and Ohio. News of the exit poll data spread quickly on trading floors, sending the Dow from an 80-point gain to […]

Trading remains very hesitant ahead of Tuesday’s election, with three straight days of very narrow advances. Technically, it’s not a pretty set-up, but the election outcome will likely determine the next move. On the plus side, sentiment appeared supportive today. The Nasdaq (first chart below) has support at 1969-1975 and 1947-1956, and resistance is 1984-2000. […]

Shares of DoubleClick surged 12% Monday on news that the company may be up for sale. DoubleClick announced that it had hired Lazard Freres “to explore strategic options for the business in order to achieve greater shareholder value, including a sale of part or all of its businesses, recapitalization, extraordinary dividend, share repurchase or a […]

NetEx announced a new accelerator that the company says can speed up storage applications across wide-area networks (WANs) by a factor of 10. The five-year-old StorageTek spin-off says its new throughput standard eliminates the need for expensive and complex networking equipment while solving throughput issues associated with business-class WAN connections using protocols such as TCP […]

The good news is that Monday marks the start of the three most positive months of the year for the stock market. The caveat is that the election remains a wild card, and apart from who wins or loses, another uncertain outcome would likely be viewed as a negative. The Nasdaq (first chart below) has […]

Investors found out this week that Chinese Internet stocks are no more alike than their U.S. counterparts. Just days after Sina.com soared 25% after beating estimates, Sohu.com tumbled more than 13% after missing estimates and warning. Sohu’s third-quarter earnings of 21 cents a share missed estimates by a penny, and revenues of $25.9 million came […]

Gateway rose 5% after the close on Thursday after the company reported a surprise profit. Gateway said it earned a penny a share in the third quarter, 8 cents better than Wall Street analysts were expecting. Revenues climbed 3.6% to $915 million, under $939.5 million forecasts. For the fourth quarter, Gateway said it expects earnings […]